UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA 



JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE 
AND CULT 

A STUDY IN ROMAN RELIGIONS 



A THESIS 

Presented to the Faculty or the Graduate School ln 

Partial Fulfilment or the Requirements for 

the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 



by 
BESSIE REBECCA BURCHETT 



SUp. QlnMegtatE $ress 

GEORGE BANTA PUBLISHING COMPANY 

MENASHA, WISCONSIN 

1918 



UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA 



JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE 
AND CULT 

A STUDY IN ROMAN RELIGIONS 



A THESIS 

Presented to the Faculty or the Graduate School in 

Partial Fulfilment op the Requirements for 

the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 



by 
BESSIE REBECCA BURCHETT 



3% Collegiate T^xtan 

GEORGE BANTA PUBLISHING COMPANY 

MENASHA, WISCONSIN 

1918 



*s& 



Gift 

University 

m 3i m 



The writer wishes to express her sincere thanks to 
Professor John C. Rolfe, Professor Walton Brooks 
McDaniel, Professor Roland G. Kent, Assistant Profes- 
sor George D. Hadzsits and to Dr. E. H. HefTner for 
their kindly criticism and advice given during the 
preparation of this thesis. 



INTRODUCTION 

In the bibliography appended to this thesis are presented some 
of the works consulted. A complete list of the books dealing with the 
subject would be far too large to include in so short a work. In the 
footnotes are given all the references in Latin literature to Janus and 
to his cult, so far as it lay in the power of the author to compile them. 
But very few references to secondary sources are given. To have set 
forth and tried to uphold or to refute the theories of others would have 
been a long and tedious task, and would merely have obscured the con- 
clusions which the writer wished to deduce from the original material. 
Occasionally such references are made for the sake of clearness, and 
in those cases mention is made of the works which best suited the pur- 
pose. 

The writer is especially indebted to the works of Mr. Grant Allen, 
Professor Carter, Professor W. W. Fowler, Professor Frazer, and 
Professor Wissowa. 

The conclusions reached are, for the most part, the writer's own, 
and differ in some respects from the usually accepted ones. However, 
in the chapters on the "Janus Geminus, " on the " Relation of Janus 
to Other Deities" and on "Miscellanies," will be found little that is 
new. These chapters are inserted merely for the purpose of giving a 
complete view of the Janus cult. The theory that the rex sacrorum 
was a human Jupiter has been advanced by Mr. Grant Allen, Dr. A. B. 
Cook, Professor Frazer and others. It remained only to add to their 
arguments, which are mostly anthropological, the evidence of Roman 
literature, and to carry the theory to the conclusion that, if a human 
Jupiter, the rex sacrorum was a priest of Jupiter, not of Janus, as has 
been hitherto maintained. Furthermore, original passages have been 
given as evidence that this belief accords with the character and ritual 
of both the rex sacrorum and of the god Janus. Evidence, besides, has 
been presented to show that Jupiter and Janus are not identical, as 
some have thought possible, but that they are quite different deities. 



CONTENTS 

Page 

Introduction v 

Chapter I. Theories of the Origin of Religion 1 

The Beginnings of the Janus-Cult. 

Deification of the dead; Deification of kings; Numina; Janus a numen of 

the door-way; Developed into a god of war and of generation. 

Chapter II. Prayers and Formulas 6 

Salian hymn; Cato's rustic ritual; Self-devotion; Devoting a city of the 
enemy; Song of the Arvals; Conclusion. 

Chapter III. The Place of Janus as God of Beginnings 11 

Importance of a good beginning; Examples of beginnings for which Janus 
was not invoked; The first month of the year originally not sacred to Janus; 
First day of the year; The Kalends; Dawn; Interpretation of some passages 
on which has been based the theory that Janus was a god of beginnings; 
Theories advanced by the Romans explaining the position of Janus at the 
head of the list of gods; Explaining the place of January at the beginning 
of the year; Summary. 

Chapter IV. Statues of Janus 27 

No statues of deities among the Romans until late; The statue brought 
from Egypt by Augustus; The statue from Falerii and the Numa statue; 
Janus was not an anthropomorphic god, but an arch. 

Chapter V. The Connection of Janus with Early Coinage 30 

Theory that the head of Janus on the as originated in the conception of 
Janus as a door-god, because of the analogy between an entrance and a har- 
bor; More probable that it was the result of an identification of Janus with 
the Greek Hermes; Portunus, Tiberinus, Volturnus. 

Chapter VI. Janus Gemlnus and Other Janus-Arches and Temples 37 

Janus-Geminus, the true representation of Janus; Origin; Dates of the 
closing of the gates; Site and appearance; Ceremonies in connection with; 
the augurium salutis; I anus, Summits, Imus, and Medius; Other Iani\ 
Temple of C. Duilius. 

Chapter VII. The Rex Sacrorum 45 

Parallelism between the worship of the primitive household and that of the 
state, discrepancies therein; Incarnate kings, evidences that these existed 
among the early Romans; Evidence that Jupiter was the god incarnated 
in the Roman priest-king; The rex sacrorum a priest of Jupiter; Traditions 
about the establishment of the body of priests adduced as proof of this 
theory; The agonalia; Other gods than Janus, who lacked priests; Duties and 
privileges of the rex sacrorum. 

Chapter VIII. Relation of Janus to Other Deities 63 

1. Jupiter; 2. Saturn; 3. Juno; 4. Diana; 5. Mater Matuta; 6. Ops Con- 
si va; 7. Carna. 

Chapter TX. Miscellanies 70 

1. Inscriptions; 2. Spolia Opima; 3. Cir censes of January Seventh. 

Conclusion 72 

Summary of the development of the characteristics and the cult of Janus. 

Bibliography 73 



CHAPTER I 

Theories Concerning the Origin of Religion 

The Beginnings of the Janus-Cult 
The study of anthropology and, more especially, of comparative 
religion has in recent years brought to light some concepts of gods so 
unlike those entertained by civilized peoples that it requires no little 
effort to adjust the mind and imagination to their reception. Various 
theories have been put forth to account for man's first conception of 
divinity. One of these theories Mr. Grant Allen illustrates by an anec- 
dote told in his Evolution of the Idea of God. 1 Sir Richard Burton, he 
says, was exploring a remote Mohammedan region and, in order to 
have greater freedom, disguised himself as a fakir of Islam. So success- 
ful was he in playing the part of holy man, that he inspired in the people 
a great reverence for his sanctity. But one night a chief of the village 
came to him secretly and urged him to flee, if he valued his life. The 
explorer was much surprised at the possibility of danger, in view of the 
influence which he had gained among the superstitious natives. But it 
was this very religious awe, which, as the friendly chief said, was the 
source of peril; for the people were planning to slay their spiritual 
master for the laudable purpose of retaining his tomb among them as a 
shrine. The warning gave this traveler barely time to escape an un- 
desirable apotheosis. Whether or not this story is true (and Mr. Allen 
refuses to vouch for it), it furnishes a good illustration of the process 
of manufacturing gods. According to Mr. Allen's theory, the first 
deities developed from dead men, of whom some died naturally, 2 and 
some were slain for the purpose of deifying them. Of course the manu- 
facturing of divinity by human sacrifice was the invention of a later 
civilization than was the simple worship of men who had died in the 
ordinary course of nature. Because the people expected to receive 
benefits from the deified members of their tribe, the thought at some 
time entered their minds that it might be advantageous to dispatch 
occasionally to the powerful company of spirits a special representative 
from among the living; for, on account of his recent experience of their 

1 Allen Evolution of the Idea of God p. 271. 
2 Cf. Cic. N. D. 1, 42, 119; Cyprian. Idol. Van. 1. 



2 JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 

need, they expected him to make a greater effort on their behalf. The 
good-will of the intended victim they could easily gain beforehand by 
bestowing on him plentiful gifts and honors. Cases are actually known 
of persons thus indulged departing life willingly when their time was up. 
This custom merely hastened the deification of those who were poten- 
tially gods. This is a brief view of Mr. Allen's theory about the way in 
which gods were made. 

Professor Frazer gives interesting evidence of the origin of a second 
sort of divinity. He has taken as the starting point of his two great 
works, The Golden Bough and Lectures on the Early History of the King- 
ship, the strange cult in the grove at Nemi, near Aricia. He begins: 

"In the sacred grove there grew a certain tree round which a 

grim figure might be seen to prowl. In his hand he carried a drawn 
sword, and he kept peering warily about him as if at every instant he 
expected to be set upon by an enemy. He was a priest and a murderer; 
and the man for whom he looked was sooner or later to murder him and 
hold the priesthood in his stead. Such was the rule of the sanctuary. A 

candidate could succeed to office only by slaying the priest. . . 

. . . The post which he held by this precarious tenure carried with it the 
title of king. " 3 After collecting a great mass of evidence for the existence 
of customs similar to this among many different tribes and nations both 
of the past and of the present, Professor Frazer comes to the conclusion 
that gods developed from kings. These kings were originally magicians 
whose most important duty was that of controlling the weather by 
sympathetic magic. The magical power which they professed to exer- 
cise, often making the claim with perfect sincerity, gradually raised them 
in the eyes of their subjects to the rank of gods. They were propitiated 
with gifts, they were surrounded with taboos and other safeguards to 
their divinity. For, if they were well, the land would be fruitful; if 
they were injured, vegetation would fail, and the flocks would cease to 
multiply. It was in accordance with this line of reasoning that the 
people conceived the strange idea of slaying their king-gods while 
they were still in the prime of life, so that their successors might inherit 
the divine essence unimpaired by old age or disease. In some 
nations their rulers seem to have been slain at stated intervals; in 
others, whenever circumstances might seem to require it. It is easily 

8 Frazer Golden Bough 1, pp. 8 sqq.; Cf. Led. on Kingship, Chapt. 1. 



JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 3 

seen that the two theories, those of Mr. Allen and of Professor Frazer, 
overlap to some extent, since in both cases the slain victim was already, 
or potentially, a deity. 

Another theory of the development of the religious sense, one better 
known to students of Roman religion, is that which is lucidly and con- 
veniently given by Professor Carter in his Religion of Numa. 4 He 
supposes that in very remote antiquity, before the settlement of the 
Palatine, the primitive Latins conceived of all the objects about them 
as animated by vague spirits or numina. These were not personifica- 
tions, they were on the contrary, so intangible as to lack name or sex. 
Some of them, however, did gain name and personality, partly under 
Greek influence, and so attained the rank of deities. 

Several factors, therefore, were probably at work in the creation 
of the Roman gods. Whether the three sorts came into existence at the 
same time or at different times, and whether side by side, or in different 
localities, is hard, perhaps impossible, to determine. Each is, at any 
rate, a very old notion. Among divinities of the first sort are the 
Manes who came from deified ancestors. An example of a god develop- 
ing from an incarnate king is probably Jupiter. 5 And, in the third place, 
Janus seems to have joined the heavenly hierarchy after having been the 
spirit indwelling in a material thing, the door-way. 

Among all the various theories, both ancient and modern, of the 
origin of the two-faced god, this seems to be the one most favored. 
Evidence for its truth will be given throughout this paper, but, as a pre- 
liminary, some facts may be cited here. Although, under the influence of 
Greek philosophy, Janus became a great cosmic deity, rivalling Jupiter 
himself as a world-god, nevertheless he is constantly given the functions 
of a door, or of a door-keeper. 6 He is represented as carrying a key, 7 and 
in mythology he is associated with deities so obscure as Cardea, the 
spirit of the door-hinge, and Limentinus, of the threshold. 8 It seems 
hardly probable that this would have been so, if there had not been 
some fundamental connection between the god and the door. Indeed, 

4 Carter Relig. of Numa pp. 5 sqq. 

5 See /. Chapt. VII. / always refers to this thesis. 

6 Lyd. Mens. 4, 1; Macrob. 1, 9, 2; 1, 9, 9; Ov. F. 1, 117-125; 1, 138-140; Septim. 
Seren. frg. 1,1. 

7 Arnob. 6, 25; Lyd. Mens. 4, 1; Ov. F. 1, 99; 1, 228; 1, 254. 
8 Tert. Idol. 15; Cor. Mil. 13. 



4 JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 

some of the noblest attributes assigned to him by poets and philosophers 
associate him with entrances. 9 

Now, although all things were conceived of as animated by vague 
spirits, or numina, only the numina, of the more important objects 
gained any prominence. Among these were the door- way and the 
hearth. The door-way was a strategic point, since it was the place at 
which attacks from foes were most to be expected. The hearth also re- 
quired constant care in primitive times, when fire was difficult to obtain. 
The numina of these objects, therefore, became more holy than others, 
and assumed, in time, some of the characteristics of their chief votaries. 
Thus, the fire which was kept by the daughters of the house, became a 
female deity, Vesta; and the door-way, because its protector was a man, 
became a god, Janus. It is not to be supposed that all deities, even 
among the Romans, gained their sex and character in this way; but in 
these two cases, where the divinities were originally so evidently with- 
out personality and where there seems to have been no other reason 
for assigning sex, this must have been, at least, a determining factor. A 
passage in St. Augustine is a good illustration of the feeling that male 
numina presided over things pertaining to men, and female over those 
pertaining to women: Sed cum et mares et feminae habeant pecuniam, 
cur non et Pecunia et Pecunius appellatus sit, sicut Rumina et Ruminus, 
ipsi viderint. 10 

Janus, then, because his chief worshiper was a man, became a male 
deity. In assuming still further the characteristics of his principal 
votary, he became a god of generation. As such he had the cognomen 
pater, 11 which was assigned to all the gods who were concerned with 
childbirth. In much the same way he became also a god of war. For, 
as time went on, when the early Romans felt the need of divine aid for 
some new activity of life, they did not invent a new deity, but turned 

9 S. Aug. C. D. 7, 3; 7, 7; Isid. EtymoL 8, 11, 37; Lyd. Mens. 4, 1; 4, 2; Macrob. 
1, 9, 9; 1, 9, 11; Nemes. Cyneg. 104-105; Ov. F. 1, 125; 1, 139; Septim. Seren. frg. 
1,1. 

10 S. Aug. C. D. 7, 11. 

11 Athen. 15, 46; Cato R. R. 134; CIL. I, p. 334; 382; III, 2881; 3030; 3158; VIII, 
2608; 4576; VIII, 11797; XI, 5374; Gell. 5, 12, 3-5; Hor. Epist. 1, 16, 59; Lucil. 
(Marx) 20-22; Macrob. 1, 9, 15-16; Mart. 8, 2, 8; 10, 28, 7; Plin. N. H. 36, 5, 4, 28; 
Senec. Apoc. 9; Serv. Aen. 8, 357; Septim. Seren. frg. 1, 1; Verg. Aen. 8, 357; Aurel. 
Vict. Orig. 3, 7. For a different theory, see Tert. Nat. 2, 11 and Fowler Relig. Exp. 
pp. 155 sqq. 



JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 5 

to one or more of the gods whom they already possessed. This is 
probably one reason why even the early deities overlap in their func- 
tions to so great an extent. When the primitive Roman went to war, 
he invoked, besides the numina that he was accustomed to worship, 
the things connected with this activity: the fields and woods through 
which he had to pass, and the weapons which he had to use. The spears 
and shields which were preserved in the Regia were perhaps relics of 
this ancient worship of weapons. 12 But of all these war deities, Mars 
gained the ascendancy, and became so important in this later capacity 
that his original character was almost forgotten; Janus, on the other hand, 
ceased to be worshiped as a war god. Traces of his warlike character 
remained, however, in his cult at the Janus Geminus. 13 

It is obvious that Janus lost his preeminence in ritualistic wor- 
ship, yet his importance in early religion is proved beyond a doubt by 
the fact that in nearly all rituals his name preceded that of other deities, 
and that it held this position for a length of time sufficient to make it 
fixed and unchanged throughout the whole period of Roman religion. 14 

12 Dion, of Hal. 2, 71; Gell. 4, 6, 1. 

13 /. Chapt. VI. 

14 /. Chapt. II. 



CHAPTER II 

Prayers and Formulas 
Among the religious formulas in which Janus holds an important 
place may be mentioned the most ancient piece of Latin literature extant, 
the hymn of the Salian priests. Janus is celebrated in a set of verses 
called lanuli} Varro and Quintilian say that in their time 2 the 
words were unintelligible even to priests. Varro gives them as follows: 
cozeulodorieso omnia vero adpatula coemisse ian cusianes duonus 
ceruses dunus ianus ve vet pom elios eum recun. divum empta cante, 
divum deo supplicante. 3 Professor Allen in his Remnants of Early 
Latin gives the "least desperate" of the lines referring to Janus thus: 

Divom * empta cante, divom deo supplicate, 

omina vero 

adpatula coemise Iani cusianes: 
duonus cerus es, duonus Ianus. 4 

Macrobius says that Janus is called deorum deus in the "most ancient 
song of the Salians. " 5 The first line, therefore, must refer to Janus. 
The other three lines Professor Allen renders, "The curiones of Janus 
have in truth perceived clear omens: thou art the good creator, good 
Janus." In Paulus-Festus also the word cerus is translated creator. 6 
Therefore these lines include Janus among the gods of generation. It 
is to be noted also that, at the remote time when the song was formulated, 
Janus was of sufficient importance to be hailed as "god of gods." 

The rustic rituals described by Cato furnish other prayers in which 
Janus holds first place. This hardy old advocate of the simple life 
prescribes that a sacrifice be offered to Ceres before harvest. Care- 
ful directions are given: As a preliminary, wine and incense were offered 
to Janus, to Jupiter and to Juno with prayers; then the cakes called 
strues were presented to Janus with the petition that he be propitious 
mihi, liberisque meis, domo, familiaeque nieae. Next a cake called 

1 Fest. 3. 

2 Quintil. Instit. Orat. 1, 6, 40; Varro. L. L. 7, 2-3. 

3 Varro L. L. 7, 26-27. 

4 Allen Remn. of Early Lat. p. 74. 
6 Macrob. 1,9, 14. 

6 Fest. 122. 



JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 7 

ferctum was offered to Jupiter with the same prayer. Then wine was 
again poured out to Janus and to Jupiter, each time with a repetition 
of the formula. At length the pig was slain in honor of the patiently 
waiting Ceres. After that, cakes and wine had to be presented to Janus 
and to Jupiter in the same order as before, with the same prayer. 7 In 
the ceremony for the lustration of the fields, Cato directs that the 
beasts of the suovetaurilia be driven around the plot of ground to be 
purified, and wine be offered to Janus and to Jupiter, the prayer being 
addressed to Mars alone. 8 

In the formula for self-devotion, devotio, as given by Livy, Janus 
holds the first place. 9 But in the formula which Macrobius gives 
for devoting a city of the enemy, his name is not mentioned. 10 The 
prayer of the fetial priests, when demanding restitution, follows two 
methods of procedure. In the beginning the priests invoked Jupiter 
alone; in the latter part of the formula they called upon Jupiter, Janus 
and Quirinus by name, and summed up the other gods thus : dique omnes 

caelestes terrestres, inferni. 11 In the last of these formulas 

it is noteworthy that Jupiter, not Janus, comes first. The reason must 
be that the fetial priests, when using the formula, were acting as atten- 
dants of Jupiter, the god of the whole Alban people. The preeminence 
of this deity, then, was due to his importance to the League. His 
place in the list of gods, in other words, was determined by his relation 
to the matter in hand. 

In the song of the Arvals, 12 which, like that of the Salians, had 
been handed down from remote antiquity by word of mouth, and had 
very probably become unintelligible in classical times, the name of Janus 
does not appear. He had a place however, in the rites of the brother- 
hood. Pliny 13 and Gellius 14 give the information that the order was 
founded by Romulus. The priesthood seems to have been devoted 

7 Cato R. R. 134. 

8 Cato R. R. 141. 

9 Liv. 8, 9. 

10 Macrob. 3, 9, 9-10. 

11 Liv. 1, 32; Polyb. 3, 25, 6; (in the prayer in Verg. Am. 12, 176 sqq., Janus does 
not come first, but it is to be noted that many of the deities are Greek. Cf . Servius 
on line 198.) 

12 CIL. I, 28; VI, 2104, U, 32-38; Henzen Act. Frat. Arv. pp. cciv; 26-27. 
13 Plin. N. H. 18, 2, 6. 
14 GeU. 7, 7. 



8 JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 

originally to the service of the Dea Dia, and the ceremonies appear 
to have concerned the fertility of the fields. 15 After having fallen into 
decay during the late republic, and having been revived by Augustus, 
the brotherhood took upon itself the duty of offering prayers and sacri- 
fices for the safety of the emperor, of his family and of the whole state. 
They met for this purpose on different occasions, such as the birthday 
of the emperor, 16 or of one of his family, 17 on his return from a journey, 18 
and annually on January third. 19 Their principal meeting place was 
the grove of Dea Dia outside Rome. In this grove have been found 
some of the "minutes of their meetings" carved in stone. 20 From these 
inscriptions comes most of the information about the priests and their 
ceremonies. The fullest account of their ritual is in the Acta of the 
time of Elagabalus, about 218 a.d. 21 The ancient nature of the cult 
is shown by the fact that, when iron was brought into the grove, to prune 
trees, or to cut inscriptions, a piacular sacrifice had to be made. 22 On the 
occasion of an offering of this sort, or of one made to avert an evil omen, 
such as the falling of a tree, 23 the deities invoked were the regular state 
gods, beginning with Janus and ending with Vesta. But the name of 
Dea Dia herself preceded the whole list. She must have held this im- 
portant place because the sacrifice was held in her grove and in her 
honor, just as Jupiter took precedence of the other gods in the ritual 
which concerned the whole Alban people. When, however, the priests 
made a vow, or performed a sacrifice, for the emperor, they invoked 
the triad Jupiter, Juno and Minerva, 24 and sometimes the Genius of the 
emperor, 25 the Juno of the empress, 26 and such late abstractions as 

16 Varro L. L. 5, 85; Fowler Rom. Fest. pp. 74; 105; Henzen Act. Frat. Arv. pp. 
i-ix; Wissowa Relig. u. Kult. pp. 143, 195, 562. 

16 CIL. VI, 2025, a, I, line 1; 2030, lines 22-24; 2041, line 30. 

17 CIL. VI, 2024 f., line 3; 2041, line 16. 

18 CIL. VI, 2042, line 26. 

19 CIL. VI, 2025, lines 13 sqq.; 2028, lines 1-15; 2040, lines 13-22; 2041, lines 
35-48. 

20 CIL. VI, 2023-2119; 
* l CIL. VI, 2104. 

"CIL. VI, 2068 column 2, lines 37-38; 2104, lines 40-42; 2107, lines 24-25; (Cf. 
Macrob. 5, 19, 13; Serv. Aen. 1, 448). 

23 C7Z. VI, 2028, c, lines 21-23; 2053, lines 14-21. 
U CIL. VI, 2037, line 9; 2039, lines 8-9. 
26 CIL. VI, 2037, line 10; 2043, II, line 10. 
a C/L VI, 2043, II, line 10. 



JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 9 

Salus, 27 Victoria, 28 and Pax. 29 Dea Dia was occasionally named after 
Jupiter, Juno and Minerva, 30 but often she was left out altogether, 31 
even though the priesthood and the grove in which they met were hers. 
Here, again, the order in which the deities were invoked was determined 
by their relative importance to the ceremony. In the ritual of emperor- 
worship Jupiter preceded the other gods, probably because the deifying 
of the emperor was a strange reversion to the cult of the human Jupiter. 32 
With him were associated the two goddesses of the Etruscan triad, and 
other deities who were especially connected with the emperor. The 
cult of the Fratres Arvales, as revealed in these inscriptions, seems to 
show a grafting of the worship of the human Jupiter upon that of the 
Dea Dia. In the branch of the cult concerned with the emperor, Jupiter 
and his group of deities are worshiped almost exclusively; in the part 
concerned with the Dea Dia, Janus occupies his usual position, heading 
the list of gods. But the list itself is preceded by the name of Dea Dia, 
who is the important factor in the ritual. 33 

To sum up, then, the name of Janus regularly preceded that of other 
gods. And when a sacrifice was performed to any deity, a preliminary 
offering was usually made to Janus. Ovid expressly mentions this fact: 

Cur, quamvis aliorum nurnina placem, 

lane, tibi primum tura merumque fero? 34 

When another deity than Janus comes first, the changed order is due 
to some peculiar importance of that deity to the particular rite. Janus 
must have gained this precedence because of his importance to all 
Roman ritual at the time when the religion was crystallizing. 

On the other hand, the name of Vesta was regularly placed at the 
end of a complete list. To account for this the Romans fabricated many 
theories which, needless to say, cannot be used as evidence without 
careful sifting. The explanation most readily occurring to their minds 
was an analogical one. Janus is the door, and Vesta, the hearth, there- 

27 CIL. VI, 2039, line 9. 
™CIL. VI, 2051, line 38. 

29 CIL. VI, 2044, line 12. 

30 CIL. VI, 2028. 

31 CIL. VI, 2041, lines 4-48; 2042, lines 1-16. 

32 /. Chapt. VII. 

33 Cf. CIL. VIII, S. 11797 and note. 

34 Ov. F. 1, 171-172; cf. Serv. Am. 1, 292; /. p. 58. 



10 JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 

fore Janus is invoked first and Vesta last. 35 Janus has charge of entran- 
ces, therefore he is used as passage-way to the other gods. 36 He comes 
first because he is the god of generation, 37 or because he is the inventor 
of speech. 38 The variety of reasons given shows that they were simply 
made up to account for a phenomenon not understood. The conclu- 
sion may be drawn, however, after considering the rituals here mentioned, 
that Janus did not occupy his position at the head of some formulas, 
because he was god of beginnings, any more than did Jupiter and Dea 
Dia hold a similar position in other formulas because they were deities 
of beginnings, nor any more than did Vesta have her place at the end 
of prayers because she was goddess of endings. The true explanation 
must be that because of their relative importance in respect to the other 
deities Janus came to hold the first place, and Vesta, the place next in 
importance, the last. A few recitations of a prayer, at the time when 
religion was in the formative period, would serve to fix the order. When 
once it had become established, religious conservatism, which was 
especially strong among the Romans, would require that it be kept. 
Indeed, the order of service became so stereotyped that calling on Janus 
and Vesta became a synonym for praying. 39 It will be necessary to 
consider this subject further in the following Chapter. 

35 Cic. N. D. 2, 27, 67. 

36 Macrob. 1, 9, 9; Ov. F. 1, 171-174. 

37 S. Aug. C. D. 7, 2. 

38 Serv. Aen. 7, 610. 

39 Juv. 6, 386; Hor. Epist. 1, 16, 59. cf. Arnob. 3, 29; S. Aug. C. D. 4, 23; /. 
Chapt. VII, pp. 57-59. 



CHAPTER III 

The Place oe Janus as God of Beginnings 
In modern works on mythology, Janus is commonly described as a 
god of beginnings. One quotation will illustrate this view. Mommsen 
says: "The facts, that gates and doors and the morning {I anus matutinus) 
were sacred to Ianus, and that he was always invoked before any other 
god and was even represented in the series of coins before Jupiter and 
the other gods, indicate unmistakably that he was the abstraction of 
opening and beginning. " x It is the purpose of this Chapter to show that 
in no ritual was Janus worshiped as god of beginnings. It is true that 
originally he was the numen of the door-opening, 2 and in the conventional 
list of deities he came first. 3 But neither of these facts makes him a 
god of beginnings. 

There is no doubt, however, that the Romans did consider a good 
beginning of great importance. Ovid has the statement, 
Omina principiis inesse solent, 4 

This line is put in the mouth of Janus, but, nevertheless, he claims 
for himself no honors at the beginnings of undertakings; he gives this 
statement only as a reason why propitious words are to be spoken on 
New Year's Day, and makes the further explanation, 

Ad primam vocem timidas advertitis aures. 5 
These lines simply refer to the well-known fact that the first words of 
an oracle and the first birds of an omen meant more than any which 
followed. In accordance with this view, if a sacrifice proved unsatis- 
factory, or the victim escaped, and a second offering had to be made, 
the omen was never considered so bright as when the first sacrifice turned 
out favorably. It was, therefore, a euphemism to call the second victim 
melior hostia* Another example of the importance of a good beginning 
is found in the custom of lifting a bride over the threshold of her new 
home. To stumble on the threshold at any time was unfortunate, to 

1 Mommsen Hist. I, p. 213, note; cf. Carter Relig. Life of Anc. Rome, p. 10. 

2 /. Chapt. I. 

3 J. Chapt. II. 

4 Ov. F. 1, 178; cf. Ov. F. 1, 187-188. 
6 Ov. F. 1,179. 

8 Verg. Aen. 5, 483. cf . however, Servius' note on this passage. 



12 JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 

do so when entering for the first time was calamitous. But, in spite 
of this common belief, there is no case on record of an invocation to Janus 
at the beginning of married life. Evidently, in matrimonial affairs, at 
least, his intervention was not considered essential to a good beginning. 
In this, as in other ceremonies, he would be invoked first, if the prayer 
was offered to the regular state deities. His aid was not, however, 
sought for the beginning, but he was called upon first because the first 
place in the list of gods was his by long-established custom. As another 
example may be cited the incident in Livy 22, 3, 11-12. Flaminius was 
thrown from his horse before an engagement with the enemy. His 
soldiers were terrified, velut foedo omine incipiendae rei. In spite, 
however, of this terror at the ill-omened beginning, there is no account 
given of an appeal to Janus to make the next starting more propitious. 
If Janus were god of beginnings, some mention of his lack of favor 
would be expected in such instances as these. 

If he had been patron of commencement, there are other situations, 
too, in which he would necessarily have to figure. For instance, in that 
case, he ought to have been patron of the first of the arbitrary divisions 
of time: sacrifices in his honor would be looked for at dawn, on the 
first day of the new year, and on the first day of each month; and the 
first month of the year would be sacred to him. None of these things 
was true. In the first place, it is a well-known fact that in the old 
Roman calendar the first month was sacred, not to Janus, but to Mars. 7 
In 153 B.C. the consuls began to enter upon their office in January, and, 
because the years were designated by consuls, it became customary to 
consider January the first month of the year. 8 But the religious year 
continued to be reckoned from the first of March. The order of months, 
then, was certainly not due to the character of Janus. It might almost 
be said to have been by accident that the month called by his name 
came to be the first. 

As for January first, Macrobius thought that it was a day sacred 
to Janus, he said that men invoked him Iunonium quasi non solum 

7 Auson. Eclog. 376, 3; 377, 5-6; Paulus-Fest. 150; Lyd. M em. 1, 16; Macrob. 
1, 12, 3; 1, 15, 18; Ov. F. 1, 27-44; 2, 47-54; 3, 75-154; 4, 25-26; 5, 423-424; Plut. 
Numa 18; 19; Q. R. 19; Serv. Georg. 1, 43; 1, 217; Solin. 1, 34-40; Varro L. L. 6, 33-34. 

8 Fowler Rom. Fest. p. 33; (Fowler does not admit that the month of January 
was certainly named for Janus) . 



JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 13 

mensis Ianuarii sed mensium omnium ingressus tenentem. 9 He seems 
to be taking this for granted, basing his opinion on the name only. But 
at any rate, he mentions no offering to Janus. The Praenestine Calen- 
dar notes a sacrifice to Vediovis and to Aesculapius on the first of Janu- 
ary. 10 In the private celebration of the day the exchange of gifts was 
an important feature. 11 These presents had nothing to do with Janus. 
Their very name strenae seems to have been taken from another deity, 
Strenia. 12 Ovid says that the sweetmeats which formed a large part 
of the gifts were intended to make the whole year pleasant. 13 This 
custom was in accordance with the belief that the beginning of anything 
determined the character of the whole. 14 On this theory, also, was 
based the caution to speak only words of good omen on the first day 
of the year. 15 For the same reason, some part of the daily tasks was 
performed, although this was a festal day, in order to secure industry 
throughout the year. 16 In all this Janus had no part. In the stately 
ceremonies of inaugurating the new consuls, as Ovid describes them, 
incense was burned, a procession of men in white ascended the Capitol, 
and white bullocks, whose necks had never felt a yoke, were sacrificed 
to Jupiter. 17 Lydus says that the consul, dressed in white and riding 
a white horse, led the procession to the Capitol. After sacrificing 
his horse to Jupiter, he donned the toga consularis, and departed. 18 
Jupiter is the god here honored. It is doubtful whether Janus had even 
his conventional place at the head of the list of gods invoked; for it 
is quite possible that the deities concerned with this ceremony were the 
Capitoline triad — Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. This trinity seems to 
belong to a different category from the list of divinities which began with 
Janus and ended with Vesta. 19 

9 Macrob. 1, 9, 16. 

10 CIL. I, p. 312. 

"Mart. 8, 33, 11-12; 13, 27; Ov. F. 1,185-186. 

12 S. Aug. C. D. 4, 11; 4, 16; Paulus-Fest. 293; Lyd. Mens. 4, 4 says that the 
strena were laurel leaves used in honor of a goddess of the name, who was a Victory. 

13 Ov. F. 1,185-188. 
14 /.pp. 11-12. 

15 Ov. F. 1,175. 
18 Ov. F. 1,165-170. 

17 Ov. F. 1,71-88. 

18 Lyd. Mens. 4, 3. 

19 Cf. /. pp. 7-10. 



14 JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 

The name of Janus, as has been seen, is not mentioned in the accounts 
of the private or of the public celebrations of New Year's Day. If, 
even at some remote time, Janus had had any sacrifice on the first day 
of his own month, it can hardly be supposed that it would have been 
so completely obscured by these later ceremonies as to have been lost 
even to memory. In this case, silence is almost equivalent to proof of 
non-existence. 

Nevertheless, the dignified ceremonies connected with the inaug- 
uration of the new officers gave a peculiarly patriotic and religious 
significance to the first day of the year, and this reflected back to Janus, 
because his name was attached to the month. The character of this 
association can be examined in the following passages. Ovid has the 
line, 

Ecce tibi faustum, Germanice, (Ianus) rmntiat annum. 20 

Germanicus is about to enter upon his consulship on the first of January, 
therefore Janus was said to announce to him the opening of the year. 
In Statius, Silvae 4, 1, 2 Germanicus opens the year, 

Insignemque aperit Germanicus annum, 

and in 4, 2, 60-61 the same flatterer hopes that Domitian may often so 
usher in the new year, and salute Janus, 

saepe annua pandas 

Limina, saepe novo Ianum lictore salutes. 

Claudianus makes Janus open the year, 

Iamque novum fastis aperit felicibus annum. 21 

So either the new consul, whose name will be used to fix the date, or 
Janus, whose month begins all years, may be celebrated by the poets as 
the opener of the year. 

Martial represents Janus as the bestower of the honors assumed on 
the first of his month, in 8, 66, 11-12, 

Quorum pacificus ter ampliavit 
Ianus nomina, 
and in 11, 4, 5-6, 

Et qui purpureis iam tertia nomina fastis, 
lane, refers Nervae. 

20 Ov.F. 1, 63. 

21 Claudian. VI Cons. Hon. 28, 640. 



JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 15 

Ianus is here little more than a personification of Ianuarius mensis. 
The following lines, which Janus is represented as saying to Domitian 
might seem, if taken alone, to give the name of the deity a deeper re- 
ligious significance: 

Salve, magne parens mundi, qui saecula mecum 
instaurare paras : talem te cernere semper 

mense meo tua Roma cupit 

da gaudia fastis 

continua. 22 

but, on comparison with the foregoing, they may be paraphrased thus: 
"You and I open the year. Rome desires always to see you assume 
the consulship in my month." The connection between Janus and 
the ceremonies of January first may be still further illustrated by these 
lines from the Carmina Tria de Mensibus: 

Hie Iani mensis sacer est : en aspice ut aris 

tura micent, sumant ut pia liba Lares. 
Annorum saeclique caput, natalis honorum 

purpureos fastis qui numerat proceres. 23 

which may mean, "This is the sacred month of January — sacred because 
of the ceremonies. January is the beginning of the year, because the 
purple-clad chiefs date their office from that month." Although 
Janus is used here only as a personification of his month, yet some sanc- 
tity is reflected to the god himself from the ceremonies of the day. From 
the lines just quoted, it seems evident that Fastorum genitor parensque^ 
means only, "Janus, i. e. January, is the beginning of the year, a fact 
to be emphasized by patriotic Romans, because the consuls assumed, or 
renewed, office on January first." And Annorum nitidique sator pul- 
cherrime mundi 2b has about the same significance. 

In Nemesianus, Cynegetica 104-105 the connection is still more clear, 

cum Ianus, temporis auctor, 

Pandit inocciduum bissenis mensibus aevum. 

Ausonius, in a poem celebrating his own consulship, calls the year 
itself "father of events," that is, "father of dates." 

22 Stat. SUv. 4,1, 17-21. 

23 Bahrens Poet. Lat. Min. I, p. 206, 12, 1-4. 
"Mart. 8, 2,1. 

"Mart. 10, 28, 1. 



16 JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 

Anne, pater rerum, 26 

In the following lines Janus is the beginner of the year in the same sense, 

Ergo ubi, lane biceps, longum reseraveris annum. 27 
Nee tu dux mensum, lane biformis, eras, 28 
Primus Romanas ordiris, lane, Kalendas, 29 

When the word Ianus is used as it is here, it is difficult to determine 
whether there is any reference to the god himself, beyond the personi- 
fication of his month. In the following, Ianus has no significance at all 
except as it means the month. 

Possidet hunc Iani sic dea mense diem, 30 
Ianus finem habet. 31 

The month of December is also personified in, 

(Decembris) Poteras non cedere Iano, 

Gaudia si nobis quae dabit ille dares. 32 

Ausonius, in Eclogue 378, 4, uses the names both of Janus and of Mars, 
in place of the names of their months, 

Iani Marcisque Kalendis. 

The same process of personification is in force when Ovid says to Janus 
Puis Kalendis. 33 That these words do not imply that all Kalends were 
sacred to Janus, but that they simply give the date as January first, is 
made still more certain by the fact that the same words are used by 
Tibullus when addressing Mars, 

Sulpicia est tibi culta tuis, Mars magne, Kalendis. 34 

The preceding argument as to the extent to which Janus was leader 
of the procession of time, can be strengthened by another bit of evi- 
dence. The fine quoted above, 

26 Auson. Edyl. 9, 333, 5. 

27 Ov. Pont. 4, 4, 23. 

28 Ov. F. 5, 424. 

29 Auson. Eclog. 376, 1. 

30 Mart. 7, 8, 5-6. 

31 Ov. F. 1, 586. 

32 Ov. F. 2, 1. 

33 Ov. F. 1, 175. 
"Tibull. 4, 2, 1. 



JANUS IX ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 17 

Iamque novum fastis aperit felicibus annum 35 

may be compared with Georgics 1, 217-218, where Vergil uses the same 
expression of the constellation Taurus, the rising of which on March 
first marks the beginning of the farmer's year, 

Candidus auratis aperit cum cornibus annum 
Taurus. 

Janus, who opened the year in the passage from Claudianus, was no 
more a god of beginnings than was Taurus, in the line from Vergil. 
Both lines are poetic ways of saying "the year begins." 

It is generally supposed that the first day of each month was sacred 
to Janus. 36 It has just been seen that such expressions as tuts Kalendis 
can not be taken as evidence for this belief. There are, however, two 
passages on which this theory might be based. Macrobius asserts 
(invocamus) Iunonium quasi non solum mensis Ianuarii sed mensium 
omnium ingressus tenentem; in dicione autem Iunonis sunt omnes 
Kalendae, unde et Varro libro quinto Rerum Divinarum scribit Iano 
duodecim aras pro totidem mensibus dedicatas. 37 Lydus quoted Varro 
for the statement that a kind of cake was offered to Janus on the Kalends. 38 
Nowhere else but in these two passages is Janus made the god of the Kal- 
ends. It is to be noted that Macrobius mentions no offering to Janus, 
nor any ritual performed in his honor. The passage in Lydus is the only 
reference to any kind of offering to Janus on that day (except as he 
might appear in his conventional place at the head of the fist of gods). 
It may be that Lydus is quoting Varro only for the first part of his 
statement and he may be adding "the Kalends'' of his own accord, for 
the other passages which mention the cake say nothing about an offer- 
ing of it on this day. 39 At any rate, Lydus, a late Greek writer, full 
of fanciful allusions, is no very reliable authority on Roman religion. 
It is evident that Macrobius puts Janus in charge of the Kalends only 

35 Claudian. VI Cons. Hon. 28, 640: other passages in which Tonus is used for 
Ianuarias are: Auson. Eclog. 375, 6; 381, 6; 382, 1; Edyl. 8, 332 passim; Epist. 19, 
409, 7-8; Mart. 9, 1, 1-2; 10,41. 1; 12,31,4; 13, 27. Ianus is used in the plural to mean 
recurring consulships: Auson. Epigr. 147, 7, Tu quoque venturos per longum consere 
Ianos. Cf. Auson. Epist. 20, 410, 13. 

38 Wissowa Relig. u. Knit. p. 103. 

37 Macrob. 1, 9, 16. 

3S Lydus Mens. 4, 2. 

39 C/i. 1, p. 312; Paulus-Fest. 104; cf. /. pp. 41-42. 



18 JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 

as a means of explaining the epithet Junonius. In another passage he 
explains it by analogy: a qua etiam Ianum Iunonium cognominatum 
diximus, quod illi deo omnis ingressus, huic deae cuncti Kalendarum 
dies videntur adscripti. 40 This quotation certainly does not convey 
the impression that the Kalends were sacred to Janus, any more than 
entrances were to Juno. Servius says that Janus had the title Junonius 
because Juno once opened the gates of war, 41 and Lydus, because he 
is the air. 42 A comparison of these passages shows that they are nothing 
but guesses made to explain the epithet, and that they are useless as 
evidence for the character of the god. 43 

Of the ritual of the first day of the month, both Varro and Macro- 
bius give full accounts, which it is worth while to quote. In Varro, 
Lingua Latina 6, 27, we find, Primi dies mensium nominati Kalendae, 
quod his diebus calantur eius mensis Nonae a pontificibus, quintanae an 
septimanae sint futurae, in Capitolio in Curia Calabra sic dicto quin- 
quies Kalo Iuno Covella, septies dicto Kalo Iuno Covella. Macrobius 
1, 15, 9-10 gives a fuller account, Priscis ergo temporibus antequam fasti 
a Cn. Flavio scriba invitis Patribus in omnium notitiam proderentur, 
pontine! minori haec provincia delegabatur ut novae lunae primum 
observaret aspectum visamque regi sacrificulo nuntiaret. Itaque sacri- 
ficio a rege et minore pontifice celebrato idem pontifex calata, id est 

vocata, in Capitolium plebe iuxta Curiam Calabram quot 

numero dies a Kalendis ad Nonas superessent pronuntiabat. Later on, 
when treating of the rites of Juno, the same author says : Romae quoque 
Kalendis omnibus, praeter quod pontifex minor in Curia Calabra rem 
divinam Iunoni facit, etiam regina sacrorum, id est regis uxor, porcam 
vel agnam in regia Iunoni immolavit. 44 It has been supposed 45 that 
this offering was made to Janus, on the assumption that the rex sacro- 
rum was a priest of Janus. But if the rex sacrorum was not a priest of 
Janus, as will be maintained in Chapter VII, this argument is disposed of. 
The strongest evidence for the lack of any sacrifice to Janus on the 
Kalends is the absence of any reference to such a ceremony. It seems 

40 Macrob. 1, 15, 19. 

41 Serv. Am. 7, 610; cf. Arnob. 6, 25. 

42 Lyd. Mens. 4, 1. 

43 /. pp. 66-67. 

44 Macrob. 1, 15, 19. 

45 Wissowa Relig. u. Kult. p. 103. 



JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 19 

hardly probably that, when Macrobius mentions on two occasions the 
ceremonies of Juno, he would have failed to speak of those of Janus, 
had he known of any. In 1, 15, 18, also, where he says that the Kalends 
belonged to Juno and the Ides to Jupiter, he would naturally be expected 
to mention Janus, if the two-faced god had had anything to do with 
either of these days. Ovid, too, remarks on the power of Jupiter and 
Juno over the Ides and Kalends respectively, 

Vindicat Ausonias Iunonis cura Kalendas, 
Idibus alba Iovi grandior agna cadit. 46 

Seven lines below he invokes Janus: 

Ecce tibi faustum, Germanice, nuntiat annum 

inque meo primus carmine Ianus adest. 
lane, biceps etc. 

Certainly in the first two lines the power of Janus over the Kalends, if 
he had any, would be appropriately mentioned, in view, especially, of the 
invocation of that deity. In the absence of any reference to an of- 
fering to Janus, on this day, the only reasonable conclusion is that 
there was none. And, in that case, Janus cannot be considered a god 
of the Kalends. 

As in the case of the Kalends and of New Year's day, there is no 
record of an offering to Janus at dawn. 47 It might be well to consider 
some passages on which is often based the conclusion that he was god 
of the morning. In Fasti 1, 125, Ovid puts these words into the mouth 
of Janus: 

Praesideo foribus caeli cum mitibus Horis. 

In the first place, the reference to the hours is purely Greek, not a 
Roman conception at all; in the second place, there is no reason for 
supposing that the hours are those of early morning exclusively. Ser- 
vius also makes Janus lord of the day in about the same sense: Alii 
eum (Janum) diei dominum volunt in quo ortus est et occasus. 48 It 
is to be noted here that Janus is god of the closing, as well as of the 
opening of the day, and that this statement may equally well be taken 
as authority for the supposition that he was god of the evening. These 

46 Ov. F. 1, 55-56; Cf. ibid. 1, 185-186. 

47 Carter Relig. Life of Anc. Rome p. 10; Wissowa Relig. u. Kult. p. 109; /. begin- 
ning of Chapt. Ill, quotation from Mommsen. 

48 Serv. Aen. 7, 607. 



20 JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 

passages imply nothing more than the exaltation of the door-god into 
a cosmic deity, the process which affected all the important deities. 49 
But the most important passage, on which to found a belief in Janus 
as "Father of the Morning" is, of course, Horace Satires 2, 6, 20-35. 

Matutine pater, seu lane libentius audis, 
unde homines operum primos vitaeque labores 
instituunt, sic dis placitum, tu carminis esto 
principium. Romae sponsorem me rapis. 



Ante secundam 

Roscius orabat sibi adesses ad Puteal eras. 

The epithet Matutinus is applied to Janus only this one time. It does 
not occur in the list of his titles given in Lydus, de Mensihus 4, 1 ; nor in 
Macrobius 1,9, 15 ; nor in Servius, ad Aeneidem 7, 610. Before a decision 
on the meaning of the title as given in Horace can be reached, it is 
necessary to compare this passage with similar expressions found else- 
where. The adjective Matutinus is applied to Jupiter once, in Martial 
4, 8, 11-12, 

gressu timet ire licenti 

ad matutinum nostra Thalia lovem. 

which, as the whole poem shows, clearly means, "Our Thalia is afraid 
to approach Jupiter (i. e. Domitian) in the morning." Hardly would 
anyone interpret it as meaning "Jupiter father of the morning." 50 
Compare with this, also, such an expression as this of Horace, 

.... vespertinus pete tectum. 51 

" Go home in the evening. " It is possible that the quality suggested by 
matutinus may be no more a permanent attribute of Janus, than of 
Jupiter, or than vespertinus is of the man addressed in Epistle 1, 6. 
After considering the other lines of the quotation, it will be possible 
to come back to this with a clearer view. 

It is well known that lawyers congregated in the Forum near the 
Janus Geminus. Rapis, consequently, may mean, "you, Janus, 
hurry me off to attend to business near your arch." The ad Puteal 

49 Isid. 5, 33, 3; Macrob. 1, 9, 2; 1, 9, 9; 1, 13, 3; Suid. s. v. 
60 See, however, Linde De Iano Summo Romanorum Deo, Acta Universitatis Lun- 
densis 27, p. 37. 

51 Hor. Epist. 1, 6, 20. 



JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 21 

refers, also, to the business section of the Forum. Ovid couples the two 
together in the line, 

Qui Puteal Ianumque timet, celeresque Kalendas. 52 

The unde homines operum primos vitaeque labores instituunt may, then, 
have no reference to Janus as god of beginnings, but may have two 
meanings "from you (i.e. near your arch) men receive the first tasks 
of the day; and, from you (i.e. as father of men) men receive the burden 
of life. " In tu car minis esto Principium, the poet may be giving merely 
the conventional setting to his poem. Janus was regularly invoked 
first in any formula. To interpret this invocation and the Matutinus 
pater as humorous expressions would be in accordance with the spirit 
of the Satire. If these conjectures have any weight, the four lines to- 
gether mean, "Father of early- rising business men, or Janus, if thou 
preferest, near whose arch men begin the toils of day, and from whom 
they receive the burden of life, as it suits the gods; do thou, as patron 
of lawyers, begin my song. When I am in Rome, thou hurriest me off 
early in the morning as a witness . . . Before the second hour, Ros- 
cius asks you to come to his assistance at the Puteal." None 
of these lines specifies Janus as god of beginnings. Furthermore, Ser- 
vius, in quoting the words Matutine pater uses them as evidence that 
Janus was god of the closing as well as of the opening of the day. 53 
Whether or not this interpretation be correct, there remains the argu- 
ment, that, at least, there is no mention of any ritual performed in 
honor of Janus at dawn. And since it is the religious ceremonies which 
determine the character of a deity, there is no ground for considering 
Janus the "Father of the Morning." 

It has been shown that Janus was not the god of the first day of 
the year, nor of the first day of the month, nor of the first month of 
the year in the early calendar, nor of the first hours of the day. It is, 
indeed, a strange coincidence that this deity should have had so many 
characteristics which can be construed by analogy to mean that he was 
patron of the commencement of things — the first month of the year was, 
in the later calendar, called by his name; the ceremonies of the inau- 
guration of officers brought to him a sort of connection with the dating 
of the year; one epithet, Junonius, seemed to connect him with the 

52 Ov. Rem. Am. 561; cf. Hor. Epist. 1, 1, 54; Sat. 2, 3, 18-19. 
53 Serv. Am. 7, 607. 



22 JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 

Kalends; another epithet, Matutinus, appeared to associate him with 
the dawn. Added to all this was the fact that he was invoked usually 
first in prayers. Two lines from Martial may serve to illustrate the 
process by which modern mythologists have come to the conclusion 
that Janus was god of beginnings: 

Annorum nitidique sator pulcherrime mimdi, 

publica quern primum vota precesque vocant. 54 

To make the door-god a deity presiding over all beginnings would explain 
these words easily. He would then be a beginner of time, of the uni- 
verse and of prayers. But the interpretation based on the preceding 
argument would be — annorum sator, because the civil year began with 
his month; mundi sator, an exaltation of Janus into a world deity, 
a process which was applied by the poets and philosophers to all the 
great divinities. The second line states the fact so often quoted, that 
Janus was usually invoked first in prayers. As another example, the 
words of Septimius Serenus: o principium deorum, 55 do not mean that 
among the gods Janus was the beginner, but only that he was the first 
of the gods. When Arnobius says Incipiamus ergo solemniter ab Iano, 56 
he is only mocking the conventional custom of beginning prayers with 
the name of Janus. He is about to consider the claims to divinity 
which might be advanced by the different inhabitants of the pagan 
pantheon; he will discuss the deities in due order solemniter and will, 
therefore, begin, as the unconverted Romans do, with Janus. St. 
Augustine, too, seems to be ridiculing the heathen ritual when he says, 
Ianus, igitur, a quo sumpsit exordium. 57 In Paulus-Festus is the state- 
ment Fuerit omnium primus: cui primo supplicabant veluti parenti, 
et a quo rerum omnium factum putabant initium. 58 The last clause 
in this passage is merely a summary of the other two: " Janus comes 
first of the gods, prayers are addressed to him first, therefore the opinion 
is that everything began with him, that is, that he was the creator of 
the universe." This is not equivalent to saying that beginnings were 
sacred to him. Strangely enough, Cicero makes somewhat the same 
statement about Jupiter: Imitemur ergo Aratum, qui magnis de rebus 

54 Mart. 10, 28, 1-2. 

85 Septim. Seven, frag. 1, 2 (Lemaire Poet. Lat. Min. p. 633). 

56 Arnob. 3, 29. 

57 S. Aug. C. D. 7, 7. 

68 Paulus-Fest. 52. 



JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 23 

dicere exordiens a love incipiendum putat ut rite ab eo dicendi 

principia capiamus, quern unum regem esse omnes . . . con- 

sentiunt. 59 This honor to be paid to Jupiter did not seem to Cicero to 
be interfering with the prerogatives of Janus. In short, there is no 
record of Janus being invoked at the beginning of undertakings, any- 
more than were other gods; no ceremonies were performed in his honor 
at the beginning of the arbitrary divisions of time; no first fruits were 
sacred to him. He simply headed the list of gods. 

After this attempted explanation of the extent to which Janus 
was god of beginnings, it might be interesting to turn to some of the 
theories advanced by the Romans themselves. It will be seen that 
even these ancients did not by any means agree that the position of 
this deity at the head of the list of gods, and that the place of his month 
at the beginning of the year were due to any power of his over begin- 
nings. As a reason for his heading the list of gods Macrobius gives: 
ut per eum pateat ad ilium cui immolatur accessus, quasi preces suppli- 
cium per portas suas ad deos ipse transmittat. 60 The resemblance of 
Janus to a door-way seemed to this author sufficient reason for address- 
ing him first. Cicero has much the same opinion, principem in sacri- 
ficando Ianum esse voluerunt, quod ab eundo nomen est ductum. 61 
Ovid, also, says: 

.... " Cur quamvis aliorum numina placem, 

lane, tibi primum tura merumque fero?" 
"Ut possis aditum per me, qui limina servo, 

ad quoscumque voles," inquit " habere deos." 62 

St. Augustine was puzzled by the fact that Janus preceded Jupiter, 
although Jupiter seemed to be the higher of the two deities; he attempted 

to explain this by saying, quoniam penes Ianum sunt prima, 

penes Iovem summa. 63 Servius thought that Janus was inventor of 
speech, and for this reason came first in the prayers which men addressed 
to the gods. 64 St. Augustine was apparently much impressed by the 
possibility of drawing comparisons between Janus, the beginner, and 

59 Cic. Rep. 1, 36, 56; cf. Hor. Od. 1, 12, 13. 
60 Macrob. 1, 9, 9. 

61 Cic. N. D. 2, 27, 67. 

62 Ov. F. 1, 171-174. 

63 S. Aug. C. D. 7, 9; /. p. 63, 64. 
84 Serv. Am. 7, 610. 



24 JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 

Terminus, the ender. 65 This was reasonable, too, for surely the ending 
of any undertaking is as important as the beginning, and, if one deity 
watched over the commencement, another ought to guard the outcome. 
But the analogy does not work out consistently. If Janus had been the 
beginning and Terminus the ending, then in prayers where Janus comes 
first, Terminus ought to come last. Such is not the case: Vesta ends 
the list, and Terminus never found a place on it at all. Cicero works 
out an analogy making Vesta last: Cumque in omnibus rebus vim ha- 
berent maximam prima et extrema, principem in sacrificando lanum 
esse voluerunt .... Vis autem eius (Vestae) ad aras et focos pertinet. 
Itaque in ea dea, quod est rerum custos intimarum, omnis et precatio 
et sacrificatio extrema est. 66 Here the positions of Janus and Vesta, at 
the door and in the interior of the house respectively, correspond to 
their respective places at the beginning and the end of the list of deities, 
but Cicero does not attempt to show that their functions were the 
analogical ones of beginner and ender. These passages show how 
artificial such explanations were. There is no reference in literature to 
an offering either to Vesta or to Terminus as guardians of the ending 
of any undertaking, or to Janus as the patron of the beginning of it. 
These functions of the deities are merely fanciful conceptions of the 
rhetoricians and poets, and had no place in religion proper. 

The reasons given by the Romans for making the month of Janus 
the beginning of the year are equally various and inconsistent. Plu- 
tarch says that Numa named the first month after Janus because he 
preferred to honor the god of agriculture and peaceful government rather 
than the god of war. 67 Varro believed it was because Janus was patron of 
beginnings. 68 Ovid says that it was because the first month resembled 
a door: 

Primus enim Iani mensis, quia ianua prima est. 69 

Isidorus has much the same idea: Ianuarius mensis a Iano dictus, cuius 
fuit a gentilibus consecratus: vel quia limes et ianua sit anni; he then 
goes on to say that Janus was represented with two faces because he 

65 S. Aug. C. D. 7, 7. 

66 Cic. N. D. 2, 27, 67. 

67 Plut. Numa 19; Q. R. 19. 

68 Varro L. L. 6, 34. 

69 Ov. F. 2, 51. 



JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 25 

was introitus . . . et exitus anni, 70 which might imply that he was 
god of endings, as well as of beginnings. Suidas makes him the door- 
keeper of the year. 71 Macrobius says that the month of the two-faced 
god was the end of the old and the beginning of the new year. 72 Ser- 
vius makes him the god of the year. 73 Ausonius, spectans tempora bina 
simul, u has the same thought. From these passages it appears that 
most of the reasons given by the Romans to explain why the month 
of Janus was first in the year are analogical, and that the analogy most 
frequently employed was that of the opening and closing door. 

The place of Janus as god of beginnings may be summed up thus: 
After it became the custom for magistrates to enter upon their office 
on the first of January and this day became the first of the civil year, 
some honor was reflected to Janus from the ceremonies then performed. 
Furthermore his name was often used as a synonym for his month. In 
consequence of these two facts, he is often hailed as the beginning of 
time. This title always means that he is the beginning of the secular 
year. But, as the Romans became familiar with abstract ideas, some 
conception of beginning may have been attached to Janus. Such a 
notion may have been strengthened by the fact that Janus was invoked 
in prayers before the other gods and by such analogies as the follow- 
ing: Ianua autem est primus domus ingressus, dicta quia Iano con- 
secratum est omne principium. 75 It is to be noted, however, that this 
is the only one of the passages which states definitely that Janus was 
god of beginnings. When philosophy brought to the Romans nobler 
religious conceptions and caused them to raise their deities to a loftier 
plane than that of the earlier numina, Janus, like Jupiter, became a 
cosmic deity. 76 He was the source of all things, 77 the generator of 
all life, 78 or the original chaos from which all things evolved. 79 In this 

70 Isid. 5, 33, 3-4; cf. 8, 11, 37: Ianum dictum quasi mundi vel caeli vel mensium 
ianuam. 

71 Suid. s. v. 

72 Macrob. 1, 9, 9; also Herodian. 1, 16. 
73 Serv. Aen. 7, 607. 
74 Auson. Eclog. 377, 2. 

75 Serv. Aen. I, 449. 

76 S. Aug. C. D. 7, 7; Isid. 8, 11, 37; Lyd. Mens. 4, 2; Ov. F. 1, 103-120. 

77 Mart. 10, 28, 1. 

78 Macrob. 1, 9, 16. 

79 Lyd. Mens. 4, 2; Ov. F. 1, 103; 1, 111-114; Paulus-Fest. 52. 



26 JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 

sense he was god of beginnings, but no more so than Jupiter was. The 
commencement of actual undertakings was never under the protection of 
Janus. The abstraction of beginner, or source, in this sense, never had 
a place in the ritual of the Romans, and even in literature such an idea 
is seldom applied to Janus; in fact endings are associated with him as 
much as are beginnings. 



CHAPTER IV 

Statues of Janus 

It is well known that the Romans did not represent their gods 
by statues until a comparatively late period in their history. It is 
said that for over a hundred and seventy years they had no images of 
any kind. 1 This state of affairs is attributed to Numa, who, according 
to the tradition, had been taught by Pythagoras that it was wrong to 
represent the deity in the form of man or beast. All this is, of course, 
mere conjecture, and is valuable only so far as it suggests that the 
Romans themselves thought that their statues of gods were of foreign 
origin. This lack of deities in human form was due, of course, not to 
any monotheistic piety on the part of Numa, but to lack of artistic 
sense among the Romans, and to the nature of their deities. Their 
impersonal divinities, or numina, were hardly distinguishable from the 
things in which they dwelt, and, to the primitive worshipers, these 
objects were sufficient symbols of the divine presence. After a time, 
however, partly under the influence of the Greeks, some of these numina 
developed into true anthropomorphic gods and were represented in 
art. But Janus was never worshiped in human form. To the end of 
pagan belief he remained a door- way, just as Vesta remained " naught 
else but living fire." 2 The evidence for this is the fact that, whereas 
of other gods statues and statuettes have been found in great numbers, 
and are mentioned again and again in literature, not a single statue of 
Janus has been unearthed, and there are references in Latin writers 
to only three. Evidence can be presented to show that at least two 
of these were not representations of Janus at all. 

One of these statues was brought from Egypt by Augustus. Pliny 
gives the following account of it: Item Ianus pater in suo templo 
dicatus ab Augusto, ex Aegypto advectus, utrius (Scopae an Praxi- 
telis) manu sit, iam quidem et auro occultatus. 3 Wissowa's conjecture 
that this was a Hermes, and not a Janus, is entirely reasonable, since 

1 S. Aug. C. D. 4, 31, 2, c; Euseb. Praep. 9, 6; Plut. Numa 8; cf. Clement. Alex. 
Strom. 1, 15, 71. 

2 Ov.F. 6, 291-292. 
3 Plin. N.H. 36, 5,4, 28. 



28 JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 

Hermes was often represented with two faces. 4 Augustus either failed 
to recognize the true character of this statue, or else thought that it 
would serve as an image of one of those ancient deities, the worship of 
whom he was trying so hard to revive. 

A statue with four faces was brought from Falerii when that city 
was captured by the Romans. Servius says that Domitian tore down 
the old arch of Janus Geminus in order to build a new one whose four 
openings should correspond to the four faces of the image: the statue 
which had been set up by Numa in the old arch was removed to the 
Forum Transitorium. 5 Martial makes this new Janus-arch the subject 
of some laudatory verses. 6 Procopius describes a four-arched passage, 
containing a two-faced statue. 7 Lydus says that in his time a Janus 
quadrifrons was supposed to be standing in the Forum of Nerva. 8 Sui- 
das mentions a statue having on its fingers the numbers CCCLXV, 
standing for the number of the days of the year. 9 Pliny contradicts 
some of these statements by saying that in the arch of Janus Geminus 
there was a statue which had been dedicated by Numa as a symbol of 
peace and war, and that its fingers were so shaped as to form the figures 
CCCLXV. 10 On the basis of this rather confused evidence one might 
suppose that in the Janus-arch there was a statue of some kind; and it 
is possible that the first one placed there was very ancient and was, on 
that account, attributed to Numa. On the other hand, no writer before 
Pliny mentions a statue; it is also possible therefore, that the first one 
set up was the one brought from Egypt by Augustus. In that case, the 
Numa statue never could have existed, but the arch and the statue both 
were ascribed to that mythical king by popular tradition. If that was 
the case, there is mention in literature of only two statues of Janus, 
neither of which was originally intended to represent that deity. But 
this matter is difficult to settle. In the time of Pliny, at any rate, there 
was a two-faced statue supposed to represent Janus in the arch of Janus 

4 Wissowa Relig. u. Kult. p. 106; Hill {Coins of Anc. Sicily p. 208) conjectures 
that a Sicilian coin of about 250 B.C., having a janiform head, may be a Hermes 
Cf. Head Coins of the Ancients in the British Museum pi. 18, 20; 21. 

6 Serv. Aen. 7, 607. 

8 Mart. 10, 28. 

7 Procop. Bell. Goth. 1, 20. 
8 Lyd. Mens. 4, 1. 

9 Suidas s. v. 

10 Plin. N. H. 34, 7, 16, 33; Cf. /. pp. 41 sq. 



JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 29 

Geminus, and on its fingers were the figures CCCLXV. This image, 
whether the one of Augustus, or an older one, was removed by Do- 
mitian, and a new Janus-arch with four openings was built to hold 
the quadrifrons from Falerii. This later passage-way, even though it 
had four arches, must still have been called Janus Geminus, because 
this name was connected with the cult of Janus in that place and 
must, therefore, have become stereotyped. On account of the name, 
Procopius may have taken it for granted that the statue was a bifrons. 
He does not speak as though he had seen it himself. He simply says 
of it, constat fuisse. The conception of Janus as god of the seasons 
was associated with the four-arched passage and its quadrifrons. 11 

The important thing in this connection is not to decide about the 
shape and final disposition of the statues, but to note that, in spite 
of the prominence of Janus in the worship of the Romans, and not- 
withstanding the analogy between the later literary character of Janus 
and a two-faced or four-faced figure, there were only two, or at most 
three statues of the god at Rome, so far as can be determined. Of these 
two were certainly not originally intended to represent Janus. The 
conclusion to be drawn from this is that Janus was not conceived by 
his worshipers as a human figure, but that the true image of him was 
the arch which was called by his name, the Janus Geminus. 

u Lyd. Mens. 4, 1; Serv. Aen. 7, 607. 



CHAPTER V 

The Connection of Janus with Early Coinage 
The lack of statues of Janus is the more remarkable in view of the fact 
that a representation of him as a two-faced deity must have been seen and 
handled often by the Romans, when they transacted business by means 
of the old as. 1 Since this head appears on the most ancient round 
coins of the Romans, it has been supposed 2 that this was the one true 
Italic representation of a deity, the only anthropomorphic divinity 
which the Romans developed independent of the influence of other 
nations. According to this theory, the image originated in the concep- 
tion of Janus as a door-god. As a door serves as entrance and as exit, 
so the spirit of the door came to be represented as looking both ways at 
the same time; then, because a harbor is, in a certain sense, an entrance, 
the door-god came to be the presiding deity of harbors and of the com- 
merce which came and went by way of the harbor; for this reason his 
head was represented on the first coins. 3 

But, since other nations worshiped two-faced divinities, 4 it would 
seem more probable that the Romans had copied this, as they did 
other images of their gods. Another difficulty with the previous theory 
is that the two-faced Janus, so far as can be known, was represented 
nowhere except on these coins, and it seems hardly probable that the 
only native anthropomorphic deity should have had so restricted an 
existence. For, as has been said, of the three statues of Janus men- 
tioned in literature, two were without doubt of foreign origin, and of 
the other nothing is known with certainty. 5 

It seems more reasonable, therefore, to suppose that the concep- 
tion of a double face was a foreign one grafted on to Janus, just as 
happened in the case of the attributes of many other divinities; and 

1 Babelon Monn. de la repub. I, p. 21 sq.; Baumeister Denk. II, p. 964, no. 1158; 
p. 966, no. 1166; p. 967, no. 1175; Cohen Monn. de emp. II, p. 355-356, no. 881; III, 
p. 392, no. 17; Monn. de la repub. pi. XXIX; XLVI; XLVIII; LII; LIV sq; LXVII; 
Darem. & Saglio s. v. Ianus p. 610; Mommsen Hist, de la monn. rom. pi. V, 1; XVII, 
5&6. 

2 Mommsen Hist. I, pp. 213-214; 225. 

3 Cf. Wissowa Relig. u. Kult. p. 105, for different view. 

4 See /. p. 27; Overbeck Kunstmyth pp. 91, 92, 476, 478. 
6 See /. Chapt. IV. 



JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 31 

that the notion of a two-faced deity did not arise through analogy at all, 
but by a different process, which can be traced out with at least some 
degree of probability and may have been somewhat as follows: it has 
been seen that Janus held the first place in the list of gods, and that, 
when a prayer was made to the great divinities of the state, his name 
regularly came first. He usually received a preliminary offering even 
when a special sacrifice was made in honor of some other deity. 6 The 
Romans held this custom very tenaciously, even after more attractive 
gods who were of foreign origin or who had developed under foreign 
influence had usurped the principal place in their worship. Janus 
must have gained this important place in the ritual because of this 
preeminence at the time when the religion was in the formative stage; 
so that when the ceremonial became stereotyped, he held this fixed 
position long after he ceased to satisfy the spiritual needs of the people. 
It has been seen that, because he was the special household god of the 
head of the family, Janus came to be invoked as an aid in many activi- 
ties which were not originally under his jurisdiction. 7 According to 
the theory first quoted, Janus was god of the door, and, because of 
the resemblance between a door and a harbor, he became god of har- 
bors and was represented on coins. But it is difficult to imagine that 
these early Romans took a census of their divinities to discover which 
one presided over an activity most like that in which they were about 
to engage. It is most natural, on the other hand, to suppose that the 
worshipers of Janus turned spontaneously to the god who was upper- 
most in their minds. Having asked the assistance of Janus in their 
business affairs, they would soon identify him with the Greek god of 
trade, since they were very ready to consider their divinities the coun- 
terparts of foreign ones of like function. Now the Greeks occasionally 
represented some of their gods as two-faced. Hermes was often so 
fashioned. There even existed coins of this sort. 8 When once the 
double-faced Hermes was presented to the Romans as corresponding 
to their Janus, the analogy between this symbol and the door-god 

6 See /. Chapter III. 

7 /. Chapt. I. 

8 Athen. 15, 46; Darem. & Saglio 1, pp. 91-92; p. 419, fig. 508; Overbeck Kunst- 
myth. pp. 476 sqq.; Hill, Coins of Sicily p. 150; Ward Greek Coins pi. 8, fig. 308; 
Catalogue Coins in Brit. Mus. 1892, 1, p. 79; pp. 80, 82-84; 1873, 9 fL; 1897 pp. 91 ff.; 
/. p. 28, note 4. 



32 JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 

would undoubtedly help to fix the conception. The cult name Geminus, 
which Janus had received from his arch, would aid in establishing the 
idea. 9 This cannot be proved with the certainty of a mathematical 
formula, but, in addition to the reasonableness of the theory, some 
facts may be adduced which add to its probability. 

The coins bearing a Janus head often had on the reverse the repre- 
sentation of a ship's prow. These asses must have been at one time 
quite common, for Macrobius says that Roman boys in a game some- 
what like "tossing pennies" called capita aut navia. This circumstance 
Macrobius takes to be a proof of the antiquity of this sort of coinage. 10 
Athenaeus says that Janus is represented on the as because it was he 
who invented the art of stamping money; and that the ship appears 
because he invented navigation. 11 Servius makes the ship a repre- 
sentation of the one in which Janus came to Italy. 12 Macrobius, on 
the other hand, thinks that it was Saturn who came over the sea, and 
that, being kindly received by Janus, who was king at that time, he 
rewarded the friendly monarch by teaching him and his subjects the 
arts of civilization. In gratitude for his practical education, Janus 
had Saturn's ship placed on the coins. 13 Ovid gives much the same 
account, but says that it was pious posterity which preserved the memory 
of the ship by picturing it on coins. 14 Plutarch asks the question, " How 
is it that they imagine Janus to have had two faces?" and, in reply 
to his own query, he conjectures, "Is it because he, being a Greek, 
came from Perrhaebia, as we learn from historians; and passing forward 
into Italy, dwelt in that country among the barbarous people who 
there lived, whose language and manner of life he changed? Or rather 
because he taught and persuaded them to live together after a civil and 
honest sort, in husbandry and tilling the ground, whereas formerly 
their manners were rude and their fashion savage without law or jus- 
tice altogether. " 15 The two-faced Janus must have been a great puzzle 
to this inquirer, for he devotes to him another chapter also; "What is 

°J. p. 41. 

10 Macrob. 1, 7, 22. 

11 Athen. 15, 46. 
12 Serv. Aen. 8, 357. 

13 Macrob. 1, 7, 19-21. 

14 Ov. F. 1, 239-240. 

15 Plut. Q. R. 22. 



JANUS IN ROMAN LITE AND CULT 33 

the reason that the ancient coin and money in antiquity carried the stamp 
on one side of Janus with two faces? and on the other the prow or 
poop of a boat? Was it to honor Saturn who came to Italy in a ship? 
But Janus, Evander, and Aeneas came in ships. More likely because 
Janus instituted good government, civilized the Italians, and furnished 
necessities which were brought by sea and land. The two faces stand 
for the change of life that Janus brought in, and the boat stands for 
the river." 16 Servius gives the bare explanation that Janus came as 
an exile in a ship, and on this account his head is stamped on one side 
of coins, and on the other a ship. 17 Minucius Felix reverts to the story 
that Saturn fled from Crete to Italy and was received hospitably by 
Janus. Out of gratitude, since he was a Greek of culture, he taught the 
rude and uncivilized Italians many things, among them, to write, to 
coin money, and to make tools. Janus, therefore, named the country 
"Saturnia" and "Latium" in his honor. 18 Plutarch, on the other 
hand, makes Janus himself teach these arts to the people, "For this 
Janus, in the most remote antiquity, whether a demi-god or a king, 
being remarkable for his political abilities, and his cultivation of society, 
reclaimed men from their rude and savage manners; he is therefore 
represented with two faces, as having altered the former .state of the 
world, and given quite a new turn to life. 19 Macrobius 20 says that 
religious rites and sacrifices were first established by Janus, and that 
his two faces, therefore, look towards the past and towards the future. 
Lydus expresses much the same idea. 21 

The gist of the passages may be put briefly as follows: Janus either 
on his own initiative, or under the influence of Saturn, introduced into 
Italy a knowledge of the arts of civilization, of religious rites and of 
coinage. The writers realized that this culture originated in Greece 
and came to Italy in a ship. Now, as is well known, the Romans had 
commerical relations with the Greeks in very early times, especially 
with those of Sicily. 22 The truth, therefore, underlying these somewhat 

16 Plut. Q. R. 41. 

17 Serv. Aen. 8, 357. 

18 Mimic. Felix 21, 5-6. 

19 Plut. Numa 19. 
20 Macrob. 1,9, 2-4. 
a Lyd. Mens. 4, 2. 

22 Liv. 4, 25; 4, 52; Mommsen Hist. I, p. 231; pp. 258-259. 



34 JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 

contradictory myths must be that when the Romans were still in the 
early stages of civilization, Greek traders came up the Tiber, bringing 
with them some knowledge of the arts of life and having as their patron 
a two-faced god. Since the appearance of the ships, of the coins, of 
the civilized arts, and of the god with the two faces was simultaneous, 
tradition linked them all together in these stories. In this connection 
it is interesting to note that Athenaeus says that Janus invented coinage 
and that on that account his head appears on many Greek and Sicilian 
coins. 23 He is evidently simply reversing the process, for it was these 
Greek and Sicilian coins which were the prototypes of the Roman, not 
the other way about. Athenaeus, although he must have been familiar 
with coins of this sort, made the same mistake that Augustus and Domi- 
tian did in identifying the symbol. 24 

Although the Romans saw and handled constantly the coin having 
the double-faced head of Janus, yet, in spite of all the nice analogies to 
be noted between a door and such an image, and in spite of the pro- 
minence of the deity in worship, they were not moved to make other 
representations of him in this form. This is significant of the fact 
that the two-faced Janus was a god of coins only; that aside from these 
coins, he was not thought of in this shape. Therefore Ovid's state- 
ment that Janus had no Greek counterpart is true. 25 The identity of 
the Greek Hermes and of the Janus of the same form never occurred 
to the poet, partly, perhaps, because they were alike in so few particu- 
lars, and partly because the identification of Hermes with Mercury had 
obscured the early association of Hermes with Janus. 

The Janus Portunus who was worshiped near the Tiber as a pro- 
tector of grain, may be associated with the Janus of early commerce. 
Portunus is identified in Paulus-Festus with the Greek Palaemon. 26 
Professor Fowler, arguing from an obscure passage in the Veronese 
Commentary on Vergil Aeneid 5, 241, comes to the conclusion that 
Portunus was not originally a god of harbors at all, but that he was guar- 
dian of the door to the granary in the Forum Boarium. 27 This bril- 

23 Athen. 15, 46; cf. /. Chapt. IV. See Carter Relig. of Numa; p. 77, 79; Hill 
Handbook of Greek and Roman Coins p. 45, for possible date of these Roman coins. 
24 /. Chapt. IV. 
25 Ov. F. 1, 90. 

26 Fest. 242, 243; Cf. Verg. Am. 5, 241. 
27 Fowler Rom. Fest. pp. 202-204. 



JANUS IX ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 35 

liant theory explains the keys that are assigned to him. It shows clearly, 
also, how he came to be an off-shoot of Janus : he was a localized form 
of the door-god. He became patron of harbors, probably, because his 
prototype Janus was a god of harbors and partly because the store- 
house over which Portunus presided was near the Tiber. When grain 
was being transported up the Tiber in times of scarcity, the deity who 
guarded it in the storehouse probably extended his protection to it as 
it lay in the harbor close by. Thus he became protector of the boat- 
landing. 

The festivals of Portunus and of Tiberinus fall on August 17th, 
which was the dedication day also of the temple of Janus built by 
Duilius. 28 The coincidence of the dates may be accidental. Momm- 
sen, however, identifies Portunus with Tiberinus. In addition to the 
coincidence of the dates of the Portunalia and of the Tiberinalia, the 
fact that the two festivals were held in the same part of the city, near 
the Forum Boarium, may be considered as a support for this theory. 29 
If, however, Professor Fowler's theory that Portunus was originally 
guardian of the annona be correct, these must have been distinct deities, 
for Tiberinus must surely have been primarily god of the Tiber. To 
make the matter still more difficult to untangle, there is yet another 
ancient deity, Volturnus, who must also have been a river god. For 
the same name Volturnus was applied to a river in Campania, and the 
Fasti Vallenses have a note under August 27, Voltumi flumini sacri- 
ficium. 30 Yarro says that the origin of Volturnus was obscure, but 
that he had a flamen. 31 This is about all the information which is to 
be had about the deity. 32 Arnobius represents Janus as the father 
of Fons and the husband of Juturna, who was the daughter of Vol- 
turnus. 33 The explanation of all this may possibly be as follows: In 
very ancient times, Volturnus was the god of the river; but at this time 
the people were interested only in flocks and fields, and the god, con- 
sequently, was a power only to be feared because of his destructive floods. 
But, later, the commerce made possible by the navigable Tiber caused 

™CIL. I, p. 399 (Aug. 17); Cf. /. p. 44. 
™CIL. I, p. 399 (Aug. 17); 1, 407 (Dec. 8). 
™CIL. I, p. 400. Cf. Paulus-Fest. 379. 
31 Varro L. L. 7, 45. Cf. ibid. 6, 20. 

32 See Mommsen's note in CIL. I, p. 400. 

33 Arnob. 3, 29. 



36 JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 

that body of water to be propitiated from other motives than fear for 
the safety of crops and herds. At this time the name Tiberinus was 
given to the god, either because the river had now changed its name 
from Volturnus to Tiber or because the new function required a new god. 
However this may be, it is at least reasonable to conjecture that 
at the time when Janus, the door-spirit, had become patron of ship- 
ping, Portunus, who was originally Janus Portunus, became guardian 
of the state granary. He developed into a harbor god, partly under 
the influence of Janus in that capacity, partly because the storehouse 
was near the river. Then Volturnus, the old god of the flowing river, 
was obscured by the divinity of the commercially valuable Tiber. Both 
Portunus and Tiberinus probably developed later than Volturnus. 
Professor Fowler suggests that the fact that the flamen of Tiberinus 
could be a plebeian may denote a late origin of the cult. 34 And C. 
Duilius probably dedicated a temple to Janus because at that time Janus 
was god of ships. The fact that he chose August 17 as the natal 
day of his temple may possibly show that he connected Janus with the 
gods of the river and of the harbor. In later times most of the old Roman 
gods were obscured by the Greek importations and Mercury became 
the god of commerce. But Janus held his position on the as as a remi- 
niscence of his former importance in trade ; Tiberinus and Portunus had a 
festival somewhere near the Tiber; while Volturnus had but the faintest 
traces left to him of his ancient worship. The Roman mythologists 
attempted to explain the confusion of deities exercising almost the same 
function by making them relatives. 

34 Fowler Rom. Fest. p. 202. 



CHAPTER VI 

Janus Geminus and other Janus-Arches and Temples 
The true representation of Janus was no statue or image of any 
kind: it was the arch in the Forum called I anus Geminus, the gates of 
which were opened in time of war and closed in time of peace. 1 This 
was the real Janus, the symbolical entrance-way, the locus of the cult 
of the door-way of the state, just as Vesta, in her little round temple, 
was the symbolical hearth of the city. The arch was the god himself, 
and it was nearly always called "Janus," not "temple of Janus," or 
"arch of Janus. " The gates were the "gates of Janus, " not the "gates 
of the arch of Janus. " 2 The arch, at some time, contained a statue 3 
but Janus was not the image, or any spiritualization of it. The god 
was the door- way itself, and seldom was this called anything but " Janus." 
In this respect Janus retained his primitive character of numen. Vesta 
and Janus were the only great Roman deities that were not affected 
by Greek anthropomorphism. They kept their ancient animistic 
character almost unchanged throughout the whole period of Roman 
religion. 

The cult of the Ianus Geminus originated in a period so remote 
that it is only by careful analysis that a faint conception of the con- 
ditions can be gained. It is quite generally conceded that the Roman 
state worship was but the counterpart of that of the family. As the 
father was the religious head of the household, 4 so the early king was the 
chief of the religion of the community. The king's hearth was the 
central fireplace, his daughters tended the fire. In historical times the 
Vestal virgins took the place of the king's daughters, and the temple 
of Vesta became the hearth of the city. 5 If the parallelism had been 
complete, it would be expected that the state door-way would be the 
entrance to the king's palace. This dwelling of the king was later 

1 Hor. Sat. 1, 4, 60-61; Serv. Am. 7, 610; Suidas s. v.; Verg. Am. 1, 293-296; 
J. Chapt. IV. cf. Liv. 1, 19. 

2 See references cited in this Chapter. Note the awkward personification in 
Stat. Silv. 4, 1, 11-44. 

3 J. Chapt. IV. 

4 Cato R. R. 143. 

5 Bailey Relig. of Ancient Rome pp. 75 ff.; Carter Relig. of Numa pp. 12-15; Fowler 
Rom. Fest. pp. 283, 288, 335; Cf. Dion, of Hal. 2, 14; /. pp. 45 sq. 



38 JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 

represented by the Regia. 6 To complete the analogy, then, the state 
Janus should have been the door to this Regia. How, instead of this, 
the symbolical entrance came to be an independent building, an anomaly, 
a door-way leading to no edifice, remains an insoluble mystery. Varro 
identifies the Janus-arch with the Porta Ianualis, which, he says was 
the third of the gates leading to the Palatine city. 7 If his assumption 
were correct, the Ianus Geminus would be the survival, not of the king's 
door-way, but of a city gate; and Janus would have been the patron 
of gates, as well as of doors. In this case, the cult must have become 
localized at the Porta Ianualis, which was preserved, on account of 
religious conservatism, long after the city had outgrown the wall to 
which it had served as an opening. It is possible that the cult of Ianus 
Geminus originated in some such way as this. It seems strange, how- 
ever, if Janus ever were protector of the city gates, that he did not con- 
tinue in that office, since Rome was continually beset by enemies, and 
always had ample need of protection at her gates. One would expect 
the cult to move out along with the new gates of each successive wall; 
for had such a practice ever existed, there was never a sufficient inter- 
val of peace, during the stormy period of the city's growth to allow her 
to forget the ceremony. Consequently, it seems hardly possible that 
any rites were ever performed at the city gates. Furthermore, Plu- 
tarch expressly states that the city gates were not sacred to any god. 8 
In historical times, at all events, the Romans remained satisfied with 
the protection of Janus at the one symbolical gate. Moreover, Macro - 
bius seems to consider the Porta Ianualis and the Janus-arch as two 
distinct buildings, since he says that in the Sabine war, Rome's ene- 
mies were overwhelmed by water which burst ex aede lani per hanc 
portam. 9 Probably the origin of the arch was obscured by antiquity 
as deeply for Varro and Macrobius as it is for modern scholars. If there 
ever was a Porta Ianualis, its existence might even be taken as slight 
evidence for the supposition that Janus was not a god of gates. For, 
if all gates were sacred to him, it is hardly likely that his name would 
have been attached to only one. This is, however, merely conjectural, 
and is worth no more than similar guesses of the Roman etymologists. 

6 /.p. 45-46. 

7 Varro L. L. 5, 165; Cf. Platner, p. 191, note 10. 

8 Plut. Q. R. 27. 

9 Macrob. 1, 9, 17-18. 



JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 39 

One thing only is certain, whatever the origin of the arch may have been, 
that it represented a passageway, and that it was Janus himself. The cult, 
moreover, was so deeply rooted as to be one of the last traces of Paganism 
to be abandoned. In the time of Belisarius, about two centuries after 
Christianity became the state religion, at the beginning of the war with 
the Goths, some persons at Rome opened the doors of the old Ianus 
Geminus. 10 So deeply rooted was the feeling that no war could be 
begun properly without this ancient ceremony. 

In the tempestuous history of Rome, there were but few periods 
during which the "gates of war" were closed. Tradition says that 
Numa, the advocate of peace, founded the arch, and that during the 
forty-three years of his reign, the gates remained shut. 11 After that 
they were open constantly until after the first Punic war. Then came 
a short interval of peace. 12 Again for over two hundred years there 
was strife, until the time of Augustus. He closed the gates at least 
three times, perhaps four. 13 One of these periods of tranquility in- 
cluded the date traditionally assigned to the birth of Christ, a fact that 
deeply impressed the minds of the early Christians. 14 

The gates were closed again during the reign of Nero, 15 under Ves- 
pasian, 16 perhaps under Domitian, 17 during the joint reign of Marcus 
Aurelius and Commodus, 18 under Constantine, 19 and under Honorius. 20 

10 Procop. Bel. Goth. 1, 25. (Teubner ed.) 

11 S. Aug. C. D. 3, 9; 3, 10; Flor. Epit. 1, 18, 1; Liv. 1, 19; Plut. Fortuna Rom. 
9; Numa 20; Serv. Aen. 1, 291; 1, 294; Varro L. L. 5, 165; Veil. Pater. 2, 38, 3; Aur. 
Vict. Vir. III. 79; Mommsen Res Gestae Divi Aug. p. 50. 

12 Note 11 above. Servius, however, in Aen. 1, 291, makes the misstatement 
that the temple was closed after the Second Punic war, but Varro and others unite 
in saying that it was after the First. 

n CIL. I, p. 312; p. 384, Mommsen's note on Jan. 11; Dio Cass. 51, 20; 53, 26; 
54, 36 (On this occasion the gates were not closed, on account of a revolt of the Da- 
cians.); Hor. Od. 4, 15, 8-9; Epist. 2, 1, 253-255; Liv. 1, 19; Mon. Ancyr. cap. 13, pp. 
L-LI; pp. 49 ff. (Mommsen's ed.); Oros. 1, 1; 6, 20; 6, 21; 6, 22; 7, 3; Ov. F. 1, 282; 
Plut. Fortuna Rom. 9; Numa 20; Serv. A en. 1, 291; Suet. Aug. 22; Veil. Pater. 2, 38, 3; 
Aur. Vict. Vir. III. 79; William Fairiey Trans, and Reprints, Mon. Ancyr. pp. 36-37. 

14 Oros. 1, 1; 6, 22; 7, 3; 7, 9; Cf. Milton Hymn to the Nativity. 

15 Lucan. Phars. 1, 61-62; Suet. Nero 14; see also note 23, p. 40. 

16 Oros. 7, 3; 7, 9; 7, 20. 

17 Stat. Silv. 4, 1. 

18 Lamprid. Vit. Comm. 16; Aur. Vict. Caes. 27. 

19 Amm. Marc. 16, 10, 1. 

20 Claudian XXII Laud. Stilich. 2, 286-287; XXVIII VI Cos. Hon. 637-641. 



40 JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 

It is said that they were opened during Gordian's reign, 21 therefore it 
is safe to assume that they had been closed previously. There is no 
mention of any other opening or closing of the arch, except the one lapse 
into pagan practice at the beginning of the war with the Goths. 22 This 
is the last account of the ceremony. 

There are no remains identified as belonging to the Ianus Geminus. 
It is fairly certain, however, that it was situated in the northeast end 
of the Forum, near the entrance to the Argiletum. 23 Originally it had 
two openings. It is probably due to this fact, not to any character 
of the deity, that Janus was called Geminus. 24 There is a representation 
of the structure on coins of Nero, 25 from which it appears to have been 
a small building, barely large enough to accommodate a pair of double 
doors with heavy bolts. The description by Procopius corresponds 
to the picture on the coin, but does not agree with Martial, or with 
Servius, according to whom, Domitian, when he rebuilt and enlarged 
the arch, changed it from a bifrons to a quadrifrons, in order to make the 
openings correspond to the four faces of the Falerian statue which he 
intended to set up in it. 26 A possible explanation is, that by the time 
of Procopius the structure had been changed again to a two-arched 
passage; or, that the author of de Bello Gothico was misled by the epi- 
thet Geminus. He described the statue, however, as a quadrifrons. 
Probably he never saw the building. 27 In addition, some of the incon- 

21 Jul Capit. Vit. Gord. 26; Eutrop. 9, 2; Oros. 7, 19. 

22 Procop. Bell. Goth. 1, 25 ; /. p. 28. 

23 CIL. I, p. 395, June P; Liv. 1, 19; Ov. F. 1, 258 (but cf. Platner p. 191); Met. 
14, 785-786; Procop. Bell. Goth. 1, 25; Ser^ Aen. 7, 607 (Servius says, SVNT GEMINAE 
BELLI PORTAE Sacrarium hoc, id est, belli portas Numa Pompilius fecerat circum 
imum Argiletum iuxta theatrum Marcelli. Quod fuit in duobus brevissimis templis: 
duobus autem propter Ianum bifrontem. . . . That the arch was iuxta theatrum 
Marcelli is clearly impossible. He has evidently confused the Janus Geminus with 
the temple of Duilius, See /. p. 44.); Gilbert Geschichte u. Top. der Stadt Rom 1, p. 321; 
Huelsen Rom. For. pp. 134 sqq. (Carter's trans.) ; Platner pp. 190 £f . 

24 /. p. 29. 

25 Baumeister Denk. 1, p. 234, fig, 206; Cohen Monn. de Vimp. 1, p. 287, 114; 
p. 289, 141. 

26 Mart. 10, 28; Serv. Aen. 7, 607; /. Chapt. IV. 

27 /. p. 29; Cf. Plut. Fortuna Rom. 9; Numa 20; Stat. Silv. 4, 1, 13-14; Verg. Aen. 
1, 294; 7, 610. According to Platner (p. 268), Domitian did not rebuild the old Janus 
Geminus, but set up an additional one in the Forum of Nerva. Cf. /. Chapt. IV. 



JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 41 

sistencies in descriptions of form and situation may be due to the re- 
buildings of the arch; for the Janus must have been rebuilt several times, 
as were the other buildings in the Forum. 

To the ceremonies attending the opening and closing of the "gates 
of war and peace" there are but few references, and these must be 
pieced together in order to make any complete picture. Vergil and his 
commentator, Servius, say that the consul, when opening the gates, 
wore the trabea of Quirinus. 28 Macrobius connects the two epithets of 
Janus, Patulcius and Clusius, with the opening and closing of the doors. 29 
Ovid says that these names were used at the time when the priest offered 
up a cake of meal and salt. 30 In Paulus-Festus mention is made of the 
cake Ianual which was offered only to Janus. 31 Cato tells of an offering 
of strues? 2 sl word which, in Paulus-Festus is described as consisting of 
strips of bread laid crosswise, one above the other. 33 It is possible that 
Ianual and strues were different names for the same thing, and that the 
strues mentioned in Paulus-Festus was the same as that offered to Janus 
in the ritual described by Cato : in that case they were the offering made 
in the field. As to any other place of offering, nothing is said in these 
passages. But Macrobius quotes Varro for the statement that there 
existed twelve altars to Janus, a number corresponding to the number 
of months in a year. 34 If these twelve altars really existed, they were 
set up at a late period, for, as has been shown, it was not until 153 B.C. 
that the month of Janus became the first of the year, and that Janus 
became, by a figure of speech, a leader of time. 35 The erecting of these 
altars would correspond, perhaps, to the placing of the figures CCCLXV 
on the fingers of the statue in the arch. 36 It is certain that these numerals 
were a late invention, because the Romans did not have a year of 365 
days until 45 B.C. 37 All that can be said, then, with certainty 
about the ceremonies in honor of Janus is that his gates were opened 

28 Serv. A en. 7, 610; Verg. Aen. 7, 607-614. 
29 Macrob. 1, 9, 16; Cf. Lyd. Mens. 4, 1. 

30 Ov. F. 1, 127-130. 

31 Paulus-Festus 104. 

32 Cato R. R. 134. 

33 Paulus-Festus 310. 
34 Macrob. 1,9, 16. 

35 /. Chapt. III. p. 28 sq. 

36 /. Chapt. IV, note 10, p. 28. 

37 Fowler Rom. Fest. p. 4; /. Chapt. IV. 



42 JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 

by a consul attired in an ancient religious garb; that a cake called Ianua 
and one called strues were offered to Janus; that at the offering of some 
cakes, whether of these or of others, the god was addressed as Patul- 
cius and Clusius; that these names were connected in some way with 
the opening and closing of the arch; that in the last years of the republic, 
or in the first of the empire, twelve altars were erected to Janus, and 
the figures CCCLXV were placed on the fingers of his statue. 

In time of peace, when of course, the Janus-arch was closed, an 
augurium salutis was taken by the new consul. 38 The fact that Augus- 
tus performed this long-neglected ceremony, when he closed the gates 
of Janus, does not necessarily indicate any other connection between the 
augurium and Janus beyond the fact that both were concerned with 
peace. 39 

The part of the Forum in which bankers, money-lenders and lawyers 
had their places of business, was often called ad Ianum, or ad lanum 
medium. Cicero so uses the expression in Be Officiis 2, 87: De collo- 
canda pecunia commodius a quibusdam optimis viris ad Ianum medium 
sedentibus disputatur and in Philippic 6, 5, 15: L. Antonio a Iano medio 

Patrono. Itane? quis umquam in illo Iano inventus est 

qui L. Antonio mille nummum ferret expensum? and Horace in Satires, 
2, 3, 18-20: 

Postquam omnis res mea Ianum 

ad medium fracta est; aliena negotia euro, 

excussus propriis. 

In Ovid, Remedia Amoris 561; 

Qui Puteal Ianumque timet, celeresque Kalendas, 

the same region is meant, but is called Ianus, not Ianus medius, and 
includes the Puteal. In Horace Satire 2, 6, 20-23, the Puteal is men- 
tioned alone as a meeting-place of lawyers and of business men. These 
passages seem to show that " Janus" was a portion of the Forum, of 
indefinite area, in which business was transacted. In Horace, Epistles, 
1, 20, 1-2, Janus and Vortumnus are given as objects which will be 
seen by a book ambitious for public notice. 40 For an interpretation 

38 Dio Cass. 37, 24. 

39 Die- Cass. 51, 20; Suet. Aug. 31; Bailey Rom. Relig. p. 98. Cf. Cic. Div. 1, 105; 
Paulus-Fest. 161; /. p. 39. 

40 Cf. Cic. Verr. 1, 154, and Asconius' note; Liv. 44, 16; Prop. 4, 2; Varro L. L. 
5, 46. 



JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 43 

of this passage, it is not necessary to assume that a statue of Vortum- 
nus and a Janus-arch stood near the shop of the Sosii, where the book 
would be exposed for sale. It is more probable that the poet is merely 
calling attention to two prominent things which may be seen by the 
book from the shop, or when purchased and carried off through the 
Forum. 41 

Horace, Epistles 1,1, 53-54: 

quaerenda pecunia primum est, 

Haec Janus suinmus ab imo 

prodocet, 

in conjunction with the passages in which Janus medius is mentioned, 
has been taken as evidence that there were three Janus arches in the 
Forum, Ianus Medius, Janus Summus and Janus Imus. 42 The lines 
above would then mean, "From the upper to the lower Janus- arch 
this is taught. " Bentley arguing from the fact that the words summus, 
imus and medius are often used of an inclined street, concluded that 
ad Ianum was the name of a street. 43 It is more probable, however, 
that ad Ianum means simply an indefinite portion of the Forum. In 
that case, ad Ianum medium is "in the middle" of this area or "near 
the Janus-arch which stands in the middle of the Forum, 44 and Ianus 
summus ab imo means "from one end to the other of the business 
section of the Forum." 45 

There were other arches called Iani, but none had the sanctity 
of the Janus Geminus. 46 There was one, probably, at the foot of the 
Janiculum; 47 another, a bifrons, which still stands in the Velabrum, 
was built by the silversmiths in honor of Septimius Severus, his wife and 
two sons; near this is a quadrifrons, the date of which is uncertain. 48 
The Tigillum Sororum is sometimes given in the list of Janus-arches. 
It is doubtful whether however, this was a Janus. 49 The Janus Quadri- 

^Huelsen For. Rom. p. 65 S. 

42 Gilbert Geschichte und Top. der Stadt Rom 3, pp. 215 sqq. 

43 Bentley on Hor. Epist. 1, 1, 54; So also Richter Top. p. 106 ff.; Lanciani 
Ruins p. 251 sqq; Bull, della Commissione Archeoolgica Communalidi Roma 1890, 100. 

44 Jordan 1, 2, 213 sqq. 

45 Platner p. 257. 

« Cic. N. D. 2, 27, 67; Liv. 41, 27; 2, 49; Ov. F. 1, 257; Suet. Aug. 31. 

47 Darem. and Saglio s. v. Ianus; Roscher Lex. col. 22. 

48 Jordan 1, 2, pp. 471 sq.; Platner p. 403. 
49 /. Chapt. LX. 



44 JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 

irons built by Domitian in the Forum Transitorium, or Forum Nervae, 
is sometimes counted as another Janus-arch, but, as has been shown, 
this may have been only a rebuilding of the old Janus Geminus. 50 Augus- 
tus may have built a new arch to shelter the statue which he brought 
from Egypt, but here also there is uncertainty as to whether the 
reference is to a new arch or to the old Janus Geminus. 51 

These Iani, as well as the triumphal arches which are not generally 
so designated, constitute, one of the original contributions of the Romans 
to the architecture of the world. It is to be seen, however, that they 
were the result, not of a sudden inspiration, but of a strange dissocia- 
tion of the door, Janus, from the building to which it had, at one time, 
been an entrance. 

The only true temple that Janus ever had was the one near the 
Porta Carmentalis, 52 built by C. Duilius in fulfillment of a vow. 53 This 
site was called, but obviously not until the time of Augustus, ad Thea- 
trum Marcelli. On August 17 and on October 18 offerings were made 
there. 54 These dates mark respectively the natal day of the temple 
and the date of its restoration. The fact that Duilius vowed a temple 
to Janus shows that the god of doors was a war god, and was important 
to warriors even as late as the Punic wars. The fact that the dedica- 
tion day of this temple was made to coincide with the festivals of Tiberi- 
nus and Portunus cannot be taken as proof of the association of Janus 
with these two deities. As has been said, the coincidence of the dates 
of the two festivals may have been purely accidental. 55 

50 J. Chapt. IV. 

61 /. Chapt. IV, p. 27. 

62 Liv. 2, 49, 8; Paulus-Fest. 285. 

53 Tacit. Ann. 2, 49. 

54 CIL. 1, p. 320; 399. Aust Aedibus Sacris p. 18; Fowler Rom. Fest. pp. 202 sqq. 

55 Fowler Rom. Fest. pp. 204 ff.j /. p. 34. 



CHAPTER VII 

The Rex Sacrorum 

Mention has been made of the theory that the primitive worship 
of the Roman state was the counterpart of that of the household. In 
accordance with this hypothesis, the king was the religious head of the 
community, performing for the state the office which the father per- 
formed for his household; the king's daughters who attended the state's 
Vesta, filled, in the state, the place of the daughters in a family; and the 
entrance to the king's dwelling must have been the seat of the Janus of 
the city 1 . 

As late as republican days there were found remnants of this paral- 
lelism. A rex sacrorum performed for the state some of the duties of 
the ancient king; Vestal virgins cared for the sacred fire; the Janus 
Geminus in the Forum was the symbolical door-way of the state. The 
natural inference is that the rex sacrorum was the priest of this public 
Janus, as the father of each household was priest of his own domestic 
Janus. This is the usual explanation of the "king of sacred things." 2 
It must be confessed that the parallelism is very attractive. It can 
hardly be expected, however, that a state religion, though in the begin- 
ning it may have been an exact reproduction of domestic worship, would 
continue to furnish a perfect counterpart when, in the growing com- 
plexity of civilization, the commonwealth developed many phases of 
activity not found in the household. For this reason, some discrepan- 
cies are to be observed in the comparison. One of these has been noted, 
that originally Janus must have resided in the entrance to the king's 
palace. In the Republic, the Regia was the survival of this royal 
dwelling. It was the seat of the state religion of an earlier epoch. 
Its sacred character is shown by the sacrifices performed there, by the 
wreaths placed above its door, and by the religious articles kept in its 
sacraria, 3 but, in spite of this, it was not the door of the Regia, but 

1 J. pp. 1-2; 37-38. 

2 Bailey Relig. of Ancient Rome p. 77; Carter Relig. of Numa p. 13; Fowler Rom. 
Fest. pp. 334-335; Relig. Experience of the Rom. People pp. 126 fL; Wissowa Relig. 
u. Knit, pp. 509 ff. 

3 Dion, of Hal. 2, 70; Gell. 4, 6, 1; Macrob. 1, 12, 6; 1, 15, 19; Ov. F. 3, 135-144; 
Fest. 186; 278; 279; Plut. Numa 14, 15; Rom. 29; Serv. Aen. 7, 603; 8, 363; Varro 
L. L. 6, 21; Fowler Rom. Fest. pp. 35-36, 39, 44, 213, 324; cf. Ov. Trist. 3, 1, 30; 
Solin. 1, 21; Tacit. Ann. 15, 41; /. p. 62. 



46 JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 

an entirely distinct edifice, the Janus Geminus, which was the sym- 
bolical state door, the Janus of the whole Republic. 4 

Another disagreement between the republican, and the primitive 
organization, one that more nearly concerns this Chapter, is the fact 
that, although the Vestals took the place of the king's daughters, yet 
the rex sacrorum, the survival of the primitive king, was not their official 
father; for it was the pontifex maximus, a person not found at all in the 
primitive order of things, who held these maidens under his potestas. 5 
Whether the usual explanation of the origin of the Vestals be true or 
not, the fact remains that the high priest surpassed in power, and even 
inaugurated the rexf and this fact requires explanation. The ancient 
Romans knew that their rex sacrorum was a survival of the king in his 
religious capacity. To account, then, for his meager authority even in 
matters of worship, they said that, because of the tyranny of the Tar- 
quins, the very name of king was hated and feared, and that therefore 
the most important religious duties of the chief were given to the ponti- 
fex maximus, in order that the power of the one bearing the royal title 
might be as slight as possible. 7 But if these early Romans were capable 
of abolishing or curtailing old offices and creating new ones in so violent 
a fashion, it seems strange that they should have felt constrained to 
retain their rex at all. If, on the other hand, belief in their religious 
conservatism is to be upheld, a more reasonable explanation would 
be that these offices were the result of a gradual growth. A clue to the 
solution of the problem may be found by an inquiry into the nature of 
the early kingship. 

Reference has been made to the evidence collected by Professor 
Frazer showing that the kings of many primitive nations, both of the 
past and of the present, have been considered by their subjects to be the 
incarnations of deities. 8 It seems likely that, at a similar stage of their 
development, the Romans had kings of the same sort. This supposi- 
tion is strengthened by the established fact that such kings existed near 

4 /. Chapt. VI. 

5 Fest. 106; Plut. Numa 9; Ov, F. 3, 419-428. 

6 Fest. 126; Liv. 2, 2; 40, 42, 8-9; Wissowa, 509 sqq. 

7 Dion, of Hal. 4, 73-74; 5, 1; Liv. 2, 1-2; Lyd. M agist. Reip. Rom. 1, 36; Plut. 
Q. R. 63. 

8 Frazer Golden Bough, The Dying God; The Magic Art; Lectures on the Early 
Hist, of the Kingship; see especially Magic Art, pt. 2, pp. 174 sqq.; /. p. 1-2. 



JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 47 

Rome. The strange priest-king at Nemi was, as Professor Frazer has 
shown, a survival of such an incarnate ruler. 9 

Moreover the traditions current among the Romans about the 
deification of Romulus 10 prove that the idea of a king-god was not 
repugnant to them; and the ease with which the cult of the deified 
emperors was established was due, not to the arrogance and the power 
of these rulers themselves, but to the fact that the germ of this sort of 
worship had always lain dormant in the hearts of the people, ready to 
grow under favorable circumstances. It is a significant fact that both 
Julius Caesar and Augustus were considered deities even during their 
lifetime. 11 Ideas of this kind could not have sprung up out of nothing 
in a short time. They must have been a natural development of the 
king-worship which had lain dormant for centuries in the religious con- 
cepts of the people. From the time of Julius Caesar on, the worship 
of the emperors was a regular part of the Roman religion. The deity 
with whom the emperor was usually identified was Jupiter. 12 

The existence at Rome of a divine kingship is suggested also by 
the Regifugium. n This was a ceremony occurring on the twenty-fourth 
of February, when the rex sacrorum performed a sacrifice in the Comitium 
early in the morning and immediately fled in haste. The Romans 
seem to have thought that this speedy departure was emblematic of the 
flight of the Tarquins from Rome. This is too obviously a theory made 
up to fit the name. By the same sort of etymological reasoning, the 
Poplifugium was said to commemorate the flight of the people after a 
battle. 14 The true reason for the flight of the king must lie deeper in 

9 Valer. Flacc. Argon. 2, 300-305; Ov. Ars Am. 1, 259-260; F 3, 271-272; Pausan. 
2, 27, 4; Serv. Aen. 6, 136; Stat. Silv. 3, 1, 55-56; Strabo 5, 3, 12; Suet. Calig. 35; 
Frazer Golden Bough, The Magic Art, pp. 1-24; /. pp. 2 sqq. 

10 S. Aug. C. D. 3, 15; Cic. Nat. Deor. 2, 24, 62; Rep. 2, 10, 17-18; Dion, of Hal. 
2, 56; 2, 63; Flor. Epit. 1, 1, 18; Liv. 1, 16; Ov. F. 2, 491-512; Met. 14, 805-828; Plut. 
Numa 2; Rom. 28, 29; Aur. Vict. Vir. III. 2. 

n Appian. Bell. Civ. 2, 148; 3, 2; Dio Cass. 44, 5-7; 44, 51; 51, 19-20; Hor. Od. 
1, 2, 41-52; Ov. Met. 15, 745-870; Serv. Aen. 1, 290; 1, 291; Suet. Aug. 94-100; Jul. 
76; 88; Verg. Aen. 1, 289-290; (many other references might be added). 

12 /. pp. 51-54. 

13 Auson. Eclog. 385, 13-14; CIL. I, p. 387, Feb. 24, and Mommsen's note; Ov. 
F. 2, 685-852; 5, 727-728; Fest. 278, 279; Plut. Q. R. 63; Serv. Aen. 8, 646; Fowler 
Rom. Fest. pp. 327-331; Mommsen in CIL. I, p. 367, 1, 3. 

14 Macrob. 3, 2, 14; Varro L. L. 6, 18; See Fowler Rom. Fest. pp. 174 ff. 



48 JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 

the nature of religious sacrifices. Professor Robertson Smith, from 
data too copious to be presented here, deduces the law that the victim 
slain in honor of a god was always originally that deity himself. 15 If 
this is true, the animal killed at the Regifugium represented some divin- 
ity. But why did the rex himself flee so swiftly after the sacrifice? Was 
it because it was a sacrilege to slay a god? If this were so, why did 
not all priests run away after performing similar rites? Is it not really 
much more probable that, although this victim, in accordance with 
Professor Smith's law, was a deity, yet it was not from the consequences 
of the sacrilegious slaughter that the priest-king fled; but that the 
rex sacrorum, like the primitive kings already mentioned, was him- 
self originally both the deity and the victim, "a god self-slain on his 
own strange altar?" He, then, felt a particular necessity for flight, 
if he would avoid an untimely death. Perhaps some crafty old king, 
on perceiving that the time was come when he must pay for the privi- 
leges enjoyed during his reign, repaired in secret to the place set for his 
very literal self-sacrifice, slew a sheep and fled, leaving it on the altar 
as a substitute for himself. It must have been comparatively easy to 
persuade his superstitious subjects that the gods had accepted the 
animal, or even that they had provided it themselves. Having once 
found that no ill consequences followed the sacrifice of a beast instead 
of a man, a people that was so far advanced in civilization as to be 
averse to the slaughter of an innocent human being, would be likely to 
continue the vicarious sacrifice. When once the rex had slain his vic- 
tim and fled, he would always perform the act in the same way. And, 
in more cultivated times, the rex sacrorum fled in imitation of that fear 
which had inspired the flight of the primitive king. 16 

The next question to consider is: what god was incarnated in this 
priest-king? In the examples given by Professor Frazer, the kings 
who attained this unenviable god-head were always magicians who had 
power especially over the weather. 17 The reason for slaying this king, 
as has been shown in another connection, 18 was to keep his power un- 

15 Encyclop. Brit, article "Sacrifice." 

16 For other instances of flights in primitive rituals, see; Farnell Cults of the 
Greek States, 1, pp. 88; Frazer Golden Bough 2, pp. 35 sqq.; Lobek Aglaophamus 676; 
Mannhardt Myth. Forsch. pp. 58 sqq.; Robertson Smith Relig. of the Semites, pp. 286 
sqq. 

17 Frazer Golden Bough, Chapters 1, 2 & 6; Led. on the Early Hist, of the Kingship. 
18 /. p. 2. 



JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 49 

harmed by advancing age, or, in time of scarcity, to influence the weather 
and secure more abundant crops. Now, the Roman god of the sky and 
of the rain was, of course, Jupiter. 19 Therefore it seems entirely prob- 
able that the early king, the descendant of the rain-making magician, 
was a human Jupiter. If so, this god Jupiter, conversely, had been an 
earthly ruler who was etherialized into a real divinity, whereas the king, 
who originally had been the god himself, became merely vice-regent on 
earth. Perhaps some of the stories associated with the priestly Numa 
may be reminiscences of the magical relation between him and the 
weather god. One such tale is the following: The pious monarch, 
by the recitation of a certain formula, brought Jupiter down from the 
sky. He then inquired of the Thunderer what propitiatory offering 
he desired when he hurled his bolts against mankind. "A head must 
be cut off," said the god; "Of an onion," Numa agrees. "Of a man," 
the deity insists; "The topmost hairs," retorts the king. Jupiter 
repeats his demand, "A life must be sacrificed," "Yes, of a fish," 
assents the ever -compliant Numa. Seeing the uselessness of con- 
tinuing the argument with so clever a controversialist, Jupiter yielded, 
and from that time on, the sacrifices suggested by Numa were made 
for lightning. 20 Besides showing the magical relationship between 
Numa and the god of thunder, this story incidentally gives another 
example of a human sacrifice being changed to that of an animal, or 
even a vegetable. 21 Furthermore, according to Plutarch, Numa insti- 
tuted and took part in certain "sacrifices and dances, " in order to secure 
the aid of the gods. 22 These ceremonies were probably magical prac- 
tices, somewhat like the dances of the "medicine men" among the 
American Indians. 

King Latinus became Jupiter Latiaris after his death, 23 and Aeneas 
was deified as Jupiter Indiges. M This enhances the probability that 
these kings were Jupiters during their lifetime. To Jupiter Latiaris, 

19 Carter Relig. of Numa, pp. 21 & 58; Cook, A. B. Zeus, pp. 10 sqq.; pp. 41, 
sqq.; Fowler Rom Fest. pp. 88 sqq.; 229 sqq.;Frazer Golden Bough, The Magic Art 2, 
pp. 174 sqq.; Wissowa Relig. u. Kult, pp. 113 sqq. 

20 Arnob. 5, 1-4; Ov. F. 3, 327-369; Plin. N. H. 2, 53, 140; Plut. Numa 15; Aur. 
Vict. Vir. III. 4. 

21 Cf. Fest. 379, where the ver sacrum is mentioned. 

22 Plut. Numa 8. 

23 Fest. 194; Frazer Golden Bough, 2, 187. 

24 Liv. 1, 2, 6; Ov. Met. 14, 581-608; Serv. Aen. 1, 259; cf. 4, 620. 



50 JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 

moreover, human sacrifices were offered, 25 a circumstance suggesting 
still further a connection between him and divine victims of primitive 
times, such as the Rex Nemorensis. The many taboos 26 that had to be 
observed by the rex sacrorum and by the flamen Dialis, appear by a 
comparison with such things among other primitve nations to be an 
indication of divinity. 27 Their purpose seems to have been to protect 
the godhead, because any injury coming to him would affect the whole 
country. Furthermore, a passage from Plautus 28 quoted and translated 
by Professor Frazer, 29 shows that the idea of human Jupiters was suf- 
ficiently familiar to the Romans to be used in a popular play. An old 
man says to a slave, "I'll be your Jupiter; and, so long as I am pro- 
pitious, you need not care a straw for these lesser gods." " That's all 
nonsense," retorts the slave, "as if you did not know how human Jupi- 
ters die a sudden death. When you are a dead Jupiter, and your king- 
dom has passed to others, who will there be to protect me?" This 
may, of course, be borrowed from the Greeks, from whom Plautus drew 
most of his material; but he would hardly have used it unless there had 
been something in Roman customs, or traditions, enough like it to 
make it intelligible to his audience. It is entirely reasonable to suppose 
that the reference is to a ceremony at some near place, such as Nemi, 
or that it is a conception native to Rome. But even if the idea be an 
imported one, it must be noticed that it is Jupiter, not some other deity, 
who is chosen as the god who could die. 

It is to be noted, too, that the title Rex is constantly bestowed on 
Jupiter. 30 It is possible, to be sure, that this may be another case 
of borrowing from the Greeks. The Romans may simply have identi- 
fied their Jupiter with the Greek Zeus; but even if this were so, the fact 
that he, rather than some other god, was chosen as the counterpart of 
the Homeric "king of gods and men," is some indication of his original 
character of king. The consistency with which this title is bestowed 

25 Min. Felix 22, 6; 30, 4; Liv. 10, 38; Tert. Apol. 9. 

26 Fest. 81; 248-249; Gell. 10, 15; Plin. N. H. 18, 12, 30, 119; 28, 9, 40, 146; Plut. 
Q. R. 40, 44; 50; 109-113. 

27 Frazer Golden Bough, Taboo, and the Perils of the Soul; Led. on the Early Hist, 
of the Kingship, Chapt. 2. 

28 Plaut. Casina 2, 5, 23-29 (330-337). 

29 Frazer Lect. on the Early Hist, of the Kingship, pp. 282-283. 

30 S. Aug. C. D. 4, 17; 4, 23; 7, 9; 7, 11; Hor. Od. 4, 4, 2; Verg. Aen. 1, 65; 2, 
648; 5, 533; 10, 2. 



JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 5 1 

on Jupiter, quern unum omnium deorum et hominum regem esse omnes 
doctrina expoliti consentiunt, 31 adds to its significance in the present 
discussion. A line of Horace may be added to this, 

reges in ipsos imperium est Iovis. Z2 
Any other of the gods might equally well have been considered the ruler 
over kings, were it not for the fact that Jupiter was himself rex. There 
is, too, a constant association of Jupiter with kings. He it was who 
ratified the election of Numa to the kingship. 33 An eagle, the bird of 
Jove, foretold to Tarquinius Priscus that he should sit on a throne. 34 
And when a similar aquiline messenger of the gods swooped down and 
carried off Lucumo's cap, he realized that a like honor was in store for 
him. 35 It is true that Romulus, after his apotheosis, gained the name 
Quirinus, not Jupiter, but at any rate, Jupiter had his share in the 
deification of this first king of Rome, for he took him to heaven during 
a thunderstorm. 36 Livy says that Jupiter, Romulus and the kings all 
bore the same name. 37 This may indeed be only the title rex, never- 
theless the statement connects the kings with Jupiter. Servius, revers- 
ing the order, says that ancient kings often assumed the names of gods. 38 
Dionysius of Halicarnassus, in explaining the reason for the establishing 
of a rex sacrorum, says that he was appointed on the expulsion of the 
kings because the name of the royal power came from the gods and 
therefore could not be abolished. 39 Finally, it was Jupiter who was 
constantly associated with the emperors. 40 Ovid sees the oak wreath 
over the door of the house of Augustus, and wonders whether it be the 
temple of Jupiter which he beholds; then, later on, he unblushingly 
addresses that emperor as maxime dive. 41 Horace invokes Jupiter as 
the guardian of Augustus and implies that the emperor is the vice- 

31 Cic. Rep. 1, 36, 56. 

32 Hor. Od. 3, 1, 6. 
33 Liv. 1, 18, 9-10. 
34 Aur. Vict. Vir.Ill. 6. 
35 Liv. 1, 34, 8-9. 

36 Cf. Cook Class. Rev. 18, pp. 360 sqq. 

37 Liv. 3, 39, 4. 

38 Serv. Am. 7, 180. 

39 Dion, of Hal. 4, 73-74. 

40 Dio Cass. 43, 14; 53, 16; Ov. F. 1, 612-614; Met. 1, 562; Suet. Aug. 94-100; 
Calig. 19; 35; Jul. 76; Nero 10; Tib. 26; Tac. Ann. 2, 83. 
41 Ov. Trist. 3, 1, 35; 3, 1, 78. 



52 JANUS IN ROMAN LIEE AND CULT 

regent of the god. 42 Before his death, Caesar dreamt that he was soaring 
above the clouds and clasped hands with Jupiter. 43 Suetonius records, 
also, that Octavius, father of Augustus, in a dream saw his son cum 
fulmine et sceptro exuviisque Iovis. 44 The same author gives other dreams, 
too, connecting Augustus with Jupiter. 45 In coins commemorating the 
consecratio of emperors an eagle is often represented bearing the soul 
aloft. 46 Domitian was often called Jupiter, 47 while Caligula appro- 
priately assumed the title of Jupiter Latiaris. 4 * Augustus and Tiberius 
were represented on cameos as Jupiter, 49 and similar portraits of other 
emperors are to be seen. 50 

One other very important consideration is that not only the flamen 
Dialis, the acknowledged priest of Jupiter, but also the rex sacrorum, 
together with consuls and generals, and later on, emperors, possessed 
insignia which had belonged to the ancient king. These things per- 
tained to the gods also, especially to Jupiter. Among these were the 
trabea, the curule chair and the fasces. In Dionysius of Halicarnassus 4, 74, 
is the express statement that consuls were allowed to keep the regalia 
of kings, especially for festal days. On the day of his inauguration, 
the consul rode to the Capitol in a chariot, drawn by white horses, the 
insignia of Jove. Furthermore, the horses were sacrificed to Jupiter. 51 
The horses and chariot, also, as well as a gilded sceptre, crown and 
eagle added glory to generals in their triumphs. 52 The toga picta which 
the triumphant general wore was preeminently the property of the 
Capitoline Jove. It may even have been kept in the temple, for Lam- 
pridius states that Alexander Severus never wore it, except as consul, 
and then it was the same one that other consuls wore, de Iovis templo 

42 Hor. Od. 1, 12, 49-60. 

43 Suet. Jul. 81. 

44 Suet. Aug. 94. 

45 Suet. Aug. 94. 

46 Isid. 18, 2, 5; Platner Top. Rom., p. 379; Stevenson Diet, of Coins, s. v. con- 
secratio; cf. Suet. Aug. 97. 

47 Mart. 4, 1; 4, 3; 4, 8, 12; 6, 10; 9, 86; Stat. Silv. 1, 6, 25-26. Cf. Suet. Dom. 
4; 13. 

48 Suet. Calig. 28. 

49 Baum. Denk. 3, pp. 1708-1710. 

50 Overbeck Kunstmyth. Zeus pp. 203 sqq.; Furtwangler Ant. Gemmen pi. 65, 48. 
61 /. pp. 13 sqq. 

52 Appian. 8, 66; Dio Cass. 44, 4-7; Dion, of Hal. 4, 74; Paulus-Fest. 209; Joseph. 
Bell. Iud. 7, 5, 3-6; Minuc. Felix. 22, 6; Liv. 1, 1, 8, 2-3; Plut. Camill. 7,1;Q. R. 



JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 53 

sumptam. b3 Livy expressly states that generals, when celebrating a tri- 
umph, were decorated with the insignia of Jupiter Optimus Maximus. 54 
Lydus, moreover, specifies Caesar and Augustus as riding into the 
city as gods. 55 Isidorus gives another striking feature of the triumph: 
that the generals smeared their faces with a red color, quasi imitarentur 
divini ignis effigiem. m Now Pliny gives the information that the face 
of the statue of Jupiter and also the bodies of those who were triumphing 
were painted red. 57 It seems clear, then, that the generals were imi- 
tating not "divine fire," but the gods themselves. The crown which 
was offered to Caesar, he sent to the Capitoline Jove, with the statement 
that he alone was king, 58 thereby showing that he considered one who 
wore a crown as assuming the role of Jupiter. But, even though he 
could not take the title rex, Caesar nevertheless could, and did, receive 
divine honors. He had a priest, statues, a chariot, etc., all of which 
were emblems of godhead. 59 Politically, the Romans would not ac- 
knowledge a king, but they had no objections apparently, to considering 
their rulers gods. 

From the foregoing examples it has been shown that early kings 
had the attributes of Jupiter, that later, consuls, generals, priests, and 
emperors had the same insignia. If, then, the rex sacrorum, the flamen 
Dialis, consuls, generals, and emperors severally performed duties all 
of which once belonged to an actual king, their regalia and privileges 
must have pertained to the individual whose powers they had assumed 
and divided among themselves. If these emblems were once the dis- 
tinguishing marks of a deity, then the king, who had formerly borne 
them all, must have been the mortal representation of the god whose 
attributes he had. 

113; Serv. Am. 7, 612; 12, 206; Suet. Nero. 4, 25; Tacit. Ann. 4, 26; Verg. Am. 7, 
612; 12, 206; Zonaras 7, 21; ci.J. Chapt. VIII, note 12; for a discussion of triumphs 
and references see Frazer Golden Bough, Magic Art, pt. 2, pp. 174 sq. 

53 Lamprid. Alex. Sever. 40. 

54 Liv. 5, 23; 10, 7; see also Jul. Cap. Gord. 4, 4; Juv. 10, 38; Mayor on Juv. 10, 
36; 10, 38. 

55 Lyd. M agist. Reip. Rom. 2, 2; 2, 3; cf. Mart. 7, 8, 2. 

56 Isid. 18, 2, 6; Serv. Ed. 10, 27, states the same fact. 

57 Plin. N. H. 33, 7, 36, 111. 

58 Dio Cass. 44, 11; Suet. Jul. 79. 

69 Suet. Jul. 76; /. p. 47. 



54 JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 

If, then, the ancient king had been the representative of Jupiter on 
earth, of course the rex sacrorum, the survival of the actual king, must 
have been a priest of Jupiter, not of Janus, as has been generally sup- 
posed. 

But if this be true, Jupiter had two priests. And, indeed, the facts 
that are known, as well as the traditions that have been handed down, 
about the establishment of the body of priests at Rome, would lead 
to the belief that this was the fact. The Romans thought that Numa 
instituted the three great flamines and the pontifex maximus. 60 It is 
worth noting that it is said that he reserved for himself certain important 
duties, "especially those that pertain to the flamen Dialis. 61 That is 
to say, the rites which in later times were performed by the priest of 
Jupiter, were the very ones that Nurna did not resign, a circumstance 
that forms another link connecting the king to Jupiter. But, as Livy 
goes on to say, Numa nevertheless appointed a priest to Jupiter, because 
he felt that many of his royal successors, being more interested in war 
than in religion, would neglect the priesthood; while the appointment of 
a regular priest would make the continuance of the rites certain. The 
•flamen Dialis, then, stood in the same relation to Jupiter that the flamen 
Martialis did to Mars, and the flamen Quirinalis to Quirinus, except 
for the fact that the deities whom the flamines of Mars and of Quirinus 
served were more or less distant divinities, whereas the god of the 
flamen Dialis was partly conceived of as an etherial being, partly as 
incarnated in the earthly king. 

The religious organization, then, during the regal period, after 
Numa had established his priesthoods, may be classified as follows: 
the king, who discharged those duties which especially concerned royal- 
ty; a pontifex maximus, who was the head of the hierarchy; 62 and three 
great flamines, who looked after the rites pertaining to their respective 
deities (consideration of the lesser flamines is not necessary to the 
present discussion). The appointment of the pontifex maximus and 
his subordinates was the beginning of the separation of religion and 
state. But, from the very nature of the royal office, this divorce could 

60 Cic. Rep. 2, 14, 26; Floms Epit. 1, 2; Lactant. Instit. 1, 22, 4; Liv. 1, 20; 4, 4, 1; 
Plut. Numa 7; 9; Varro L. L. 7, 45; Aur. Vict. Vir. III. 3. 
« Liv. 1, 20. 
62 Paulus-Fest. 126. 



JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 55 

not be complete. Therefore Numa, whose name doubtless stands for 
a long line of rulers who established these customs gradually, is said 
to have reserved for himself some important ceremonies. These would 
be such as were inseparable from, or preliminary to, some secular affairs 
which he could not afford to let slip from his hands; or they would be 
those which, because of their nature, required a king for their perfor- 
mance. Now, when the king expected to be away, at war, for instance, 
or was for any reason unwilling to burden himself with even the duties 
which he had reserved for his own supervision, he could, without in 
any way losing his control over these rites, appoint a substitute to 
perform them in his stead. That this was customary is shown by the 
Acta Arvalium, where there is given an instance of a person officiating 
at the regular sacrifice in the place of the usual priest. 63 From an old 
formula of Cato's it is clear that such substitutes often performed rites 
even for private individuals. 64 It is certain that a war-loving king 
would often avail himself of this privilege. And, indeed, in Livy 1, 33, 
an actual instance is given, Ancus demandata cur a sacrorum flaminibus 
sacerdotibusque aliis exercitu novo conscripto profectus, Politorium, 
urbem Latinorum vi cepit. The proxy of a king would be temporarily 
a priest-king, a rex sacrorum. 

Since the pontifex maximus was the head of the state religion, he 
was naturally the one to remind the king when the time came for the 
performing of the royal ceremonies; and, in case the king did not wish 
to officiate, he might also suggest a suitable proxy, or appoint one 
himself. Consequently, when the Republic was set up, the pontifex 
maximus may have been a man of considerable power, which was lodged 
in his own person, whereas the rex sacrorum was only the shadow of a 
king, a mere proxy. The fact that the office of pontifex maximus was 
so desirable as to be the object of keen contests, and to be held, in 
imperial times, by the emperor himself, whereas that of rex was never 
an object of contention, 65 reinforces this supposition. Although con- 
jectural, this is more reasonable than the theory, based on the traditions 
of the Romans themselves, that, at the establishment of the Republic, 
the people from fear and hatred of the name of king, gave most of the 
religious duties to a pontifex maximus created for that purpose. Feel- 

63 OX. VI, 2066, lines 2-3. 

64 Cato R. R. 139. 

65 Liv. 25, 5, 2; 27, 8, 4-5; 8-9; Dio Cas. 54, 27; Dion, of Hal. 4, 74; 5, 1. 



56 JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 

ing, however, that they ought to have a religious king, they created the 
rex sacrorum, but they made his power very small, in order to discourage 
any attempt on his part to gain a real kingship. If this had been the 
motive of these early republicans, they might just as easily have abol- 
ished the kingship entirely and given all the religious duties of the ruler 
to the pontifex maximus or to some other. It is more reasonable to think 
that the title of rex sacrorum did not inspire fear or hatred, because the 
people had long been familiar with it as belonging to a person who 
could do no harm; that the offices of pontifex maximus and of rex sacro- 
rum were not established at the expulsion of the kings; but that they were 
the result of a slow growth; that, at the establishment of the Republic 
the Romans found the religious and secular power of the state already 
lodged, to a certain extent, in different persons; and that, in accordance 
with their well-known conservatism, especially in religious matters, 
they left the religious hierarchy as it was, and simply gave the secular 
power of the king to the two consuls. Even this last step was no very vio- 
lent revolution, since they were entirely familiar with the idea of elec- 
tion of kings. 66 

These conjectures lend reasonableness to the contradictory state of 
affairs found in the existence of: 

1. A pontifex maximus, who is the head of the religious organiza- 
tion of the state, and who is, however, not in any way the successor of 
the ancient king; 

2. A rex sacrorum, who nominally ranks first of all the priests, who 
seems to be the survival of the primitive king, and yet is subordinate 
to the pontifex maximus, and appointed by him; 

3. Vestal virgins, who are the survival of the king's daughters, 
but are nevertheless officially the daughters of the pontifex maximus, 
not of the rex sacrorum) 

4. Royal titles, insignia, etc., which are borne by the gods, the rex 
sacrorum, the pontifex maximus, priests of Jupiter, consuls and generals, 
and emperors. 

So far evidence has been produced showing that the rex sacrorum 
was a priest of Jupiter; it remains to bring forward the negative evi- 
dence by showing that he did not belong to Janus. This priest has been 
assigned to Janus because such an arrangement fits in so well with the 

66 Cic. Rep. 2, 17, 31; 2, 20, 35; 2, 21, 37; Liv. 1, 18; cf. Sail. Bell. Cat. 6, 6-7. 



JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 57 

evident parallelism between household and state worship, 67 and because 
it has been thought to be corroborated by two passages, one in Ovid, 
and one in the Acta Arvalium. In Fasti I, 318, Ovid says of the 
agonalia of January 9 : 

Ianus agonali luce piandus erit. 

In the following lines he adds that the rex sacrorum sacrificed a ram on 
that day. In the Acta Arvalium™ a ram is mentioned as the offering 
to Janus. From these two passages it has been assumed 69 that the rex 
was a priest of Janus, and that he offered a ram to Janus on the first 
Agonalia of the year. Laurentius Lydus, an authority usually over- 
looked in this connection, and with reason, since he was a late Greek 
writer showing little knowledge of Roman affairs, says that this agonalia 
was a festival of the air. He then goes on to say that Janus is the air. 70 
Evidently he, at least, thought that the day was sacred to Janus, prob- 
ably basing his belief on the fact that it fell in the month of January. 
Besides, by the sixth century, when Lydus lived, the mythology of the 
Greeks and Romans had become so impregnated with Oriental mysti- 
cism that its original character was obscured; and Janus, accordingly, 
had become a cosmic deity, identified with Jupiter. 71 Moreover, Lydus 
adds no further information about the nature of the ceremonies, but, 
by an excursus into Callimachus, attempts to explain the etymology 
of the word Ianus. His philosophizing, therefore, is worth nothing as 
evidence of the identity of the god of this agonalia. In Ovid's time, 
on the contrary, the rite was still being performed; and, under the 
encouragement of Augustus, every effort was being made to preserve 
the ancient ritual in its purity. What Ovid says about the ceremony is 
consequently worthy of some degree of respect. After making many 
conjectures about the etymology and meaning of the word agonium > 

67 Chapter VI, and the beginning of Chapter VII. 

68 CIL. VI, 2099, p. 559, line 24, and p. 561, line 9; 2104, p. 569, line 2; 2107, p. 
575, line 8. 

69 Fowler Rom. Fest. p. 282 (Fowler, however, admits the doubt, cf. p. 288); 
Mommsen CIL. I, p. 375; p. 383, Jan. 9; Pauly Real-Encycl. vol. I, s.v, agonium; 
Wissowa de Feriis Anni Rom. p. XII; Relig. u. Kult. pp. 21; 103; Bailey Relig. of Anc. 
Rome, 77. 

70 Lyd. Mens. 4, 2. 

71 Cf. with Lydus, Proclus Hymn to Hecate and Janus. 



58 JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 

and in these guesses he displays the same sort of pedantic ignorance 
as the other etymologists, Ovid says: 

Ita rex placare sacrorum 

numina lanigerae coniuge debet ovis. 72 

Varro, also, states that the rex sacrificed a ram on the agonalia, but 
does not name the divinity honored. 73 The word numina in the pas- 
sage from Ovid may mean that more than one god was invoked. It may, 
however, be no more than an instance of the common use of the plural 
for the singular. This one word, therefore, cannot be taken as proof 
that Janus was not the god of the ceremony. But it is well known that 
Janus held the first place in the list of gods, and was regularly invoked 
in prayer before the other gods. When a complete list was given, 
Vesta held the last place. 74 This was so common that " Janus and 
Vesta" came to be a collective name for the body of deities to whom 
prayer was usually offered; as, for example, Juvenal says: 

et farre et vino Ianum Vestamque rogabat. 75 
Even when the sacrifice was not to be made to the whole company of 
great gods, including Janus, but to some one divinity, a preliminary 
offering was generally given to Janus, as is attested by many formulas, 76 
and by these lines of Ovid: 

Cur quamvis aliorum numina placem, 

lane, tibi primum tura merumque fero? 77 

Macrobius, also, states the same fact: invocarique primum, cum alicui 
deo res divina celebratur. 78 In view of this fact, it seems most probable 
that the I anus piandus simply means, "a sacrifice must be made." 

72 Ov. F. 1, 333-334. 

73 Varro L. L. 6, 12. 

74 /. Chapt. II. 

75 Juv. 6, 386. 

78 /. Chapt. II. 

77 Ov. F. 1, 171-172. In Ov. F. 3, 881-882, almost the same expression is used: 
Ianus adorandus cumque hoc Concordia mitis 
et Romana Salus araque Pacis erit. 
Peter takes this festival to include Janus. There is nothing, however, in the refer- 
ences to the Altar of Peace on which to base the supposition that Janus had anything 
to do with it. The Calendars do not mention him with the dedication of the altar, 
CIL. I, pp. 313; 385, Jan. 29 and 30; Dio Cass. 54, 25; Mon. Ancyr. 12, 37-41; Platner, 
pp. 361-362; cf. /. p. 9.) 

78 Macrob 1, 9, 9. 



JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 59 

To be sure, Ovid does not disclose the identity of the deity to whom 
a sacrifice is made on this agonalia. It is possible, therefore, either 
that the ancient god had been forgotten, while his festival survived, 
as was the case in the Lupercalia, or that the offering was made to the 
great gods collectively. At any rate, there is no reason for thinking 
that Janus was the god honored, or that the rex sacrorum was his priest. 
Since the rex was a priest of Jupiter, there is a bare possibility that this 
sacrifice at which he officiated was held in honor of that god. If this had 
been the case, however, it seems probable that Ovid would have men- 
tioned the fact, as he does when describing the ceremonies of the Ides. 79 
Since no particular deity is mentioned for January 9, it seems more 
likely that the day was celebrated in honor of the great divinities of the 
state. And the rex because of his position of priest of Jupiter, would 
not have been debarred from performing a sacrifice to the other gods of 
the community. The ancient king, being head of the state religion, 
would certainly worship all the deities of the commonwealth. The 
rex sacrorum, his successor, would do the same. 

The calendars give no mark except AGON for January 9, 80 but, beside 
the three other days thus marked, there are noted some festivals: on 
March 17, the festival in honor of Liber, 81 on May 21, that in honor of 
Veiovis, 82 and on December 11, the Septimontium.^ Whether or not 
the other festivals marked in the calendars as falling on the days of the 
agonalia had any connection with the word agonium or with each other, 
is not clear. From the connection of the priest of Jupiter with the 
first one, it might be assumed that all the days referred to the same god, 
and perhaps celebrated different phases of his activity. The whole 
matter is, however, extremely doubtful. 84 

All the evidence so far cited has gone to prove that the rex sacrorum 
was a priest of Jupiter, not of Janus. There exists the difficulty that, 
if this servitor is taken away from Janus, the great god of entrances 
is left entirely bereft of priest or fiamen. Modern authors seem to have 

79 Ov. F. 1, 587 sqq. 

80 CIL. I, p. 383, Jan. 9. 

81 CIL. I, p. 388; Varro L. L. 6, 14. 

82 CIL., I, p. 394. 

83 CIL. I, p. 407; Paulus-Fest. 340. 

84 Fowler Rom. Fest. p. 281. Other references to the agonium: Paulus-Fest. 10; 
Lyd. Mens. 3, 25; Ov. F. 5, 721-722 (this is simply a cross-reference to the first book, 



60 JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 

assigned the rex sacrorum to Janus partly from a desire to see the impor- 
tant office filled. However, Janus is not the only deity of recognized 
dignity who is thus destitute. There are several gods who lack flamines, 
among them Consus, a di vanity of some rank in the state ritual. 85 

There remain to be discussed the few facts that are known about 
the rex sacrorum, and to show that they are not inconsistent with the 
theory that he was an incarnate priest of Jupiter. He was the first 
in the ordo sacerdotum. Consequently, at the banquets of the priests, 
he sat at the head of the table. This was not because he was a priest 
of Janus, who came first in the list of gods, but because he was originally 
the head of the whole state religion. Next to him came the flamen 
Dialis. m This sequence, again, was due not to the superiority of Janus 
over Jupiter, but to the predominance of the incarnate Jupiter-king 
over his own priest. 

The rex sacrorum held office for life. 87 This may have been because 
the ancient king had reigned as long as he lived. His person was invio- 
lable. 88 His wife was called the regina sacrorum. 89 He could hold no 
other office. 90 This was not due to fear that he might increase his 
power, but to the very nature of his priesthood. For, as has been said, 
the early kings found the taboos and religious duties of their office too 
burdensome. They appointed therefore " kings of sacred things" 
to assist in bearing the burden of royalty. Certainly, then, the office 
would not be given to a man who had duties of his own. Plutarch gives 
the interesting information that the rex was not allowed to make a 
speech in any public place. 91 This seems to emphasize his position as 
a mere proxy, who could do nothing on his own initiative. 

On the first day of the month the rex sacrificulus, as the rex sacrorum 
is sometimes called, summoned the people to the Curia Calabra, on the 

where the question is treated more fully; it does not mean that the festival is con- 
cerned with Janus. Janum simply means January) ; Varro L. L. 6, 12 sq. 

85 Wissowa Relig. u. Kult. pp. 20-21. 

86 Fest. 185; Gell. 10, 15, 21. 

87 Dion, of Hal. 4, 74. 

88 Serv. Aen. 8, 646. 

**CIL. VI, 2123; 2124; Macrob. 1, 15, 19. 

80 Dion, of Hal. 4, 74; 5, 1; Plut. Q. R. 63. 

9] Plut. Q. R. 63. 



JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 61 

Capitoline, and, after performing a sacrifice, announced to them on 
which day the Nones of that month would fall. Meantime his wife, the 
regina sacrorum, sacrificed in the Regia. On the Nones, the rex again 
assembled the people and gave them information about the festivals 
for the month. 92 This assembling of the people was a duty which the 
early king would naturally not relegate to another, although he gave 
up most of the purely religious rites to different priests. But, since the 
right to hold an assembly was bound up with his secular power, he 
would realize that to part with it was unsafe. But for the king's proxy 
to hold the assembly would be perfectly safe, for that was exactly the 
same as if the king had done it in person. Then, as the assembly 
gradually lost its political importance, it would be most natural for 
the king to leave it more and more in the hands of the proxy, especially 
when the occasion was a religious one, recurring with irksome frequency. 
This may explain why the rex sacrorum convened the popular assembly. 
At the establishment of the Republic, since this convoking of the people 
had come to be looked upon as one of his regular duties, it remained 
under his jurisdiction. These interpretations of the various duties of 
the rex sacrorum are, of course, merely conjectural; but they seem rea- 
sonable. The growing unimportance of the old assembly, over which 
the king presided, can be seen from the fact that in historical times, 
it was called but twice a year, to legalize wills and adoptions. The 
days on which it convened are marked on the calendars Q. R. C. F. In 
a note in Paulus-Festus, there seems to be a confusion between these 
days and that of the Regifugium. 93 The note in the Praenestine Calen- 
dar, however, seems to be correct, in which it is stated that the days 
were so marked because after the assembly had been held, business 
might be resumed, 94 and Varro states that Q. R. C. F. means quando rex 
comitiavit; fas. % 

There is a reference in Paulus-Festus to regiae feriae. This festival 
may have been performed by the king in early times and by the rex 
sacrorum in later times, if the name can be taken to mean anything. 
Unfortunately the ceremony is not referred to anywhere, at least by 

92 Macrob. 1, 15, 9-12; 1, 15, 19; Serv. Aen. 8, 654; Varro L. L. 6, 27-28. 
93 Fest. 258; 278. 
94 C/L. I, p. 315. 

95 Varro L. L. 6, 31; see also CIL. I, pp. 301; 315; 367 and Mommsen's note; 
Fowler Rom. Fest. pp. 63 sqq. 



62 JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 

this name, except in the very imperfect passage in Festus; Regiae Feriae 

dictae videntur, quae hunt fori, comitiique lustrandi causa 

fulguris fit ubi quo regiae feriae. 96 These words seem to 

refer to some kind of piacular offering for lightning; if so, the fact that 
the rex presided is another link connecting him and Jupiter, the thun- 
derer. 

As has been mentioned before, the Regia was the survival of the 
residence of the early kings. 97 Therefore it would be natural to suppose 
that the rex sacrorum lived in it. But it is not certain whether it was 
the residence of the rex or of the pontifex or of both. 98 If it was the 
home of one of these exclusively, the other may have had an ofhce in 
it. At any rate, the rex sacrorum and his wife performed sacrifices 
there. 99 Possibly the custom changed at different times, and possibly 
too, when the Forum ceased to be a desirable place in which to live, 
both these dignitaries moved to a more pleasant neighborhood, merely 
keeping offices in the Regia. 

None of the data here given about the duties and privileges of the 
rex sacrorum are inconsistent with the theory that he was a priest of 
Jupiter. Moreover, there is very little to connect this shadow of royalty 
with the simplicity of Janus, who had very little to do with kings. 

96 Fest. 278. 

97 /. p. 45. 

98 Dio Cass. 54, 27; Paulus-Fest. 279; 290 (these passages appear to contradict 
each other); Serv. Aen. 8, 363; Fowler Rom. Fest. pp. 282; 335; Huelsen Rom. For., 
Carter's trans, pp. 180 sqq.; Platner pp. 210 sqq.; Richter Topogr. der Stadt Rom, 
pp. 91-92. 

99 Paulus-Fest. 278. 



CHAPTER VIII 

Relation of Janus to Other Deities 

Jupiter 

Much of the difficulty about the overlapping functions of deities 
arises from a misconception of the origin and character of divinity. No 
deity was patron of only one thing; as, for instance, Apollo was not 
god of the sun and of nothing else, nor Diana of the moon only. Deities 
may have originated as specialists, but they could not long remain so. 
If, for instance, one man prayed to his spear for protection, another 
might supplicate his door, and immediately there would ensue a con- 
fusion of the functions of the two numina. So Mars, the field god, 
became a war god. So did Jupiter, the sky god. 

But the confusion between Jupiter and Janus is greatest of all, for 
both seem to be supreme. It is these irreconcilable claims that led to 
the theory that the two were identical. 1 Not only modern scholars, 
but the ancients, also, were disturbed by this similarity in the char- 
acteristics of Jupiter and Janus. St. Augustine asks: Cum ergo et 
Ianus mundus sit, et Iupiter mundus sit, unusque sit mundus, quare 
duo dii sint, Ianus et Iupiter? 2 He quotes Varro for a kind of explana- 
tion: quoniam penes Ianum sunt prima, penes lovem summa. But, as 
is shown throughout this paper, Janus did not originally occupy so 
lofty a position as that assigned him by Augustine; he was a lowly 
doorkeeper. Neither was Jupiter so noble a conception; he was an 
earthly king. It was only after a long period, when the Romans had 
become acquainted with the philosophic ideas of the Greeks, that they 
gave to their gods the sublime character of world deities. 

The following inscription has been taken as evidence that Janus 
and Jupiter were identical: 

I O V I 

D I A N O 

C . H E R R E 

1 Cook Class. Rev. 18, p. 368; Frazer Led. on Kingship, pp. 285 sqq.; Golden Bough, 
Magic Art, pt.' 2, pp. 381 sqq.; Linde de Iano summo Rom. deo. 

2 Aug. CD. 7, 10; cf. 4, 11; 7, 9; 7, 11. 



64 JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 

N . N I V S (Sic) 
CANDIDVS 
V . S . L . M . 3 

This has been supposed (thus Orelli-Henzen no. 5622) to be dedicated 
to a single deity, Jupiter Janus. It may just as well be taen to mean, 
"to Jupiter and to Janus." Many other inscriptions can be found in 
which the names of divinities are combined without punctuation or 
conjunction. One such is the following: 

IOVI OPTIMO 
MAXIMO IUNO 
NI REGINAE MIN 
ERVAE SANCTAE 
SOLI MITHRAE etc. 4 

The first inscription is, moreover, very poorly cut, as can be seen from 
the copy. Surely it is useless as evidence about the name of the god, 
when even the name of the man who set it up is incorrectly written. 

But St. Augustine unconsciously adds to the passage quoted above, 
the test by which it can be determined whether or not the two 
divinities were the same: seorsus habent templa, seorsus aras, diversa 
sacra. If two divinities differ in place of worship, in cult, in origin and 
in name, a few similar functions, or qualities, will not make them iden- 
tical. 

Even in the literary period of Rome's history, there was little in 
common between Jupiter Optimus Maximus, with his triumphal robes 
and crowns and pomp of sacrifice, and Janus, whose name came at the 
beginning of every prayer, to be sure, but for whose worship a few cakes, 
or, at most, a ram sufficed. Both were elevated by the concepts of 
philosophers into world deities. But it is to be noted that other deities, 
also, share in this elevating process. To quote St. Augustine again: 
Ipse in aethere sit Iupiter, ipse in aere Iuno, ipse in mari Neptunus, 
in Iano initiator etc. 5 Having begun, then, in entirely dif- 
ferent strata of religious conceptions, Janus and Jupiter arrived, finally 
at the same goal. 

3 CIL. 5, 783. 
*CIL. 8, 4578. 
5 S. Aug. C. D. 4, 11. 



JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 65 

Saturn 

Saturn was an ancient god of agriculture. It is natural, therefore, 
that he should have some characteristics in common with the weather 
god, Jupiter. One strange rite resembling some of the ceremonies of 
Jupiter is recorded by Professor Frazer. 6 The Roman soldiers on the 
Danube in their celebration of the Saturnalia, slew a youth who was 
dressed to impersonate the god Saturn. Arguing from the resemblance 
of this ceremony to the cult of the human Jupiter, Professor Frazer 
comes to the conclusion that Jupiter, Janus and Saturn were different 
forms of the same deity. It is possible, as Professor Frazer says, that 
the worship of a human Jupiter may have been brought in by a con- 
quering people and may have supplanted that of a human Saturn. In 
this way the two gods may have become blended. But, if the reiterated 
rule that difference in cult marks difference in deity is to be upheld, 
then the two are distinct divinities. 

Mention has been made of the myths concerning Janus and Saturn. 7 
In these stories Janus comes to Italy, bringing new ideas of civilization, 
or, he hospitably receives Saturn, from whom he obtains knowledge of 
the new arts of life. He is called the son of Hecate and of the sky, 8 
and is sometimes given a sister Camise, a son Aether, and a daughter 
Olisthene. 9 He is the founder of the Janiculum, as Saturn is of Satur- 
nia. 10 These stories all seem to be concerned with the very early impor- 
tation of merchandise and of certain new ideas of civilization. These 
the Romans seem to have received from the Greeks, along with an 
anthropomorphic form of Hermes, whom they identified with their 
Janus. 

Juno 
The title Junonius would seem to indicate some connection between 
Janus and Juno. Macrobius argues from it that the Kalends were 

6 Frazer Lectures on the Early Hist, of the Kingship, Chapt. 9. (In Herodian 1, 
16, is the statement that the Saturnalia was celebrated in honor of Janus, which might 
be taken as additional evidence for Professor Frazer's theory. This is clearly, how- 
ever, a confusion on the part of the historian, for he goes on to say, as a reason for the 
celebration, that Janus received Saturn during his exile.) 

7 /. Chap. V. 

8 Arnob. 3, 29. 
9 Athen. 15, 46. 

10 Arnob. 1, 36; 3, 29; Isid. 15, 1, 50; Macrob. 1, 7, 23; Serv. Aen. 8, 357. 



66 JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 

sacred to Janus as well as to Juno. 11 That this is erroneous has been 
shown. 12 Servius thought that, because Juno had at one time opened 
the gates of Janus Geminus, Janus received a name from her. 13 But 
the story told in Vergil is, of course, not the origin of the epithet. 14 
The meaning of the title seemingly derived from the name of Juno is, 
however, obscure. In one case only, do the two deities seem to be 
connected in cult. This is at the Tigillum Sororum. This Tigillum 
was a beam across a street, or alley, which led from the Carinae to the 
Cyprium Angiportum. It was supported by the walls of the houses 
on each side of the street. 15 The story told of it is that during the war 
with the Albans, there was a battle between the Horatii and the 
Curiatii. One of the Horatii killed one of the Curiatii, to whom his 
sister was betrothed. Returning home with the spoils, he met his sister 
and attempted to kiss her. But she, recognizing the cloak of her 
lover, warded off the kiss, and turned aside and wept. Her brother then 
in his anger killed her. Being condemned to death, he appealed to the 
people and was acquitted. To expiate his crime, however, he, or his 
father for him, erected a yoke, under which the youth was made to 
pass. Beneath the yoke were put two altars, one to Janus Curiatius, 
the other to Juno Sororia. 16 For this reason, the beam was called 
Tigillum Sororum. The beam was held in veneration for a long period. 
Sacrifices were performed at it annually. 17 It is recorded that the 
Arval Brothers made an offering there even as late as the fourth cen- 
tury A. D. 18 But the real meaning of the Tigillum and of the story con- 
nected with it, is not at all certain. Roscher suggested that it was a relic 
of a very old spell of creeping under wood to get rid of witchcraft. 19 Dr. 
L. D. Barnett's theory that it was a fetish carries out this idea a little 
farther. 20 The conjunction of an altar to Juno and one to Janus seems 

11 Macrob. 1, 9, 16. 

12 J. p. 17 sqq. 

13 Serv. Aen. 7, 610; /. pp. 17-18. 
14 Verg. Aen. 7, 620-621. 

15 Dion, of Hal. 3, 22; Cook, Class. Rev. 18, p. 369; Platner pp. 258; 450. 

16 S. Aug. C. D. 3, 14; Dion, of Hal. 3, 15,22;Paulus-Fest.297; 307; Liv. 1,24-26; 
cf. Lyd. Mens. 4, 1; Platner Top. Rom, pp. 258; 450. 

17 Dion, of Hal. 3, 15, 22. 
l *CIL. I, p. 402, Oct. 1. 

19 Roscher Lex. s.v. 

20 Class. Rev. 12, p. 463. 



JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 67 

to show a connection between the two deities. But their relationship 
here is not clear. However, whatever other association there was 
between them, it is at least certain that both were concerned with 
childbirth, for Juno was the protectress of women at childbirth, and 
Janus was the man's special deity, a god of generation. It is pos- 
sible that the epithet Junonius refers to this function. The Janus 
of men, however, does not correspond to the Juno of women, for the 
numen of a man was a spirit with a definite name, his Genius; woman's 
numen was Juno, who, however, was not limited to the one function 
as was the numen Genius. 

Diana 
The name of Diana still more closely resembles that of Janus. 
Another form I ana occurs; 22 and, conversely, of Janus there exists a 
form Dianus. 23 Whatever etymology is accepted for these words it 
makes no difference in determining the character of the deities. If the 
form Ianus is the original one, and if this is derived from an extension 
of the root of eo, "to go", 24 it is, of course appropriate to the door-god, 
and also to the birth-goddess, who is always associated with the phases 
of the wandering moon. On the other hand, a derivation from the root 
diu, considered as the foundation of the form Dianus, 25 will suit the 
character of the deity equally well. Almost any god can be considered 
"shining" or "godlike." The adjective is especially suited to Janus, 
since he was the opening at the door-way, through which came all the 
light into the primitive Italic house. If the theory is accepted that 
the same root appears in Janus, Jupiter, Juno, Dione, etc., it follows, 
not that these deities were identical 26 but that the same general quality 
was assumed in all of them. To attempt a solution of this vexed prob- 
lem in etymology, however, is not the purpose of this paper, especially 
since, as has been shown, none of the derivations advanced by different 
scholars interferes with the theory herein presented. This Diana, 
whose name seems to be the feminine form of Janus, was, according to 

21 Cf. Carter, Religious Life of Ancient Rome, p. 11. 

22 Varro R. R. 1, 37, 3; Macrob. 1, 9, 8. 

23 CIL. V, 783. 

24 Cic. N. D. 2, 27, 67; Macrob. 1, 9, 11; Serv. Aen. 7, 610; Walde s.v. 

25 CIL. V, 783. 

26 Frazer Led. on the Early History of the Kingship, pp. 285 sqq. 



68 JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 

Professor Carter, 27 the Diana of Aricia who had been a close neighbor 
of that incarnate king, the Rex Nemorensis. 28 Many votive offerings 
found at her sanctuary prove that she was a goddess of birth, as well 
as of the woods. Professor Carter thinks, also, that she came to Rome 
when Aricia became head of the Latin League, and that her temple on 
the Aventine was of importance, not to the Roman people, but only to 
the League, since her office at Rome was already filled by Juno Lucina. 
Perhaps some of Diana's later popularity was due to an identification 
with the Greek Artemis. At any rate, she was certainly an important 
goddess of birth, and side by side with her, Juno retained her position 
unimpaired. This is still another example of the overlapping of the 
functions 29 of deities. 

Mater Matuta 
Once in literature Ianus is called Matutine Pater, a title which 
might be interpreted as connecting him with Mater Matuta, and as so 
making him the god of dawn. 30 But, as has been argued before, the 
adjective matutinus is used elsewhere with no more meaning than "in 
the morning"; and it is entirely in the spirit of the passage in which 
it occurs, to take the epithet to signify humorously, " early rising Janus, " 
of, " father of early risers." 31 If this be true, the title does not prove 
any religious connection between Janus and the dawn, or between him 
and Mater Matuta, beyond the fact that both had some association 
with birth. There is, to be sure, an inscription to Janus Pater and 
Mater Matuta. 2,2 But this does not argue any great connection between 
them. Often divinities that have little association in cult are honored 
by inscriptions on the same stone. 

Ops Consiva 
Still another tie connecting Janus with the long list of birth-gods, 
is the fact that as Janus Consivius,* 3 he has the same title as Ops, who 

27 Carter Relig. of Numa, pp. 53 sqq. 

28 /. Chapt. VII. 

29 Hor. Carm. Saec. 

30 Hor. Sat. 2, 6, 20-23; Bailey Relig. of Anc. Rome, p. 77; Wissowa, p. 109. 

31 /., pp. 20-21. 

Z2 CIL. VIII, S. 11797; cf. Wissowa Relig. u. Kult., p. 110. 

33 Lyd. Mens. 4, 1; Macrob. 1, 9, 15; Tert. Nat. 2, 11. 



JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 69 

is sometimes called Opeconsiva. 34 She seems to have been a goddess 
of fertility in general, both of the fields, and of the animal world. 

Carna 

There is a remarkable absence of myths concerning Janus. This 
is probably due to the fact that this deity had no Greek counterpart, 
whose exploits could be attributed to him. St. Augustine makes this 
scarcity of legend the subject of a very good pun: An forte voluerunt 
ut, quoniam plurimi dii selecti erubescenda perpetrando amiserant 
frontem, quanto iste innocentior esset, tanto frontosior appareret? 35 

In spite of the grave authority of St. Augustine, however, it must 
be admitted that there were a few myths about the many-faced god. 
Ovid tells one of him and Carna, which may properly be classed as 
erubescenda. m In this narrative, the poet makes Carna a goddess of 
the door hinge, so that he seems to have confused Carna and Cardea. 
In spite of this mistake, it is possible that Ovid was right, however, 
in assuming some connection between Carna and Janus. If so, the 
association was not with the primary quality of door-god, but with 
the secondary one of birth-god. For Carna was a protecting deity of 
infants. The story of the two deities may have arisen through this 
relation. The tale could hardly have been well known, however, since 
St. Augustine, for all his deep researches into Paganism, says that 
Janus was free from myths of this sort. 

34 Varro L. L. 6, 21. 

35 S. Aug. C. D. 7, 4. 

36 Ov. F. 6, 101 sq. 



CHAPTER IX 

Miscellanies 

Inscriptions 

It is a curious fact that no dedicatory inscriptions to Janus have 
been found in Italy. 1 If any had existed, it is hard to believe 
that all could have been lost or destroyed. The inference is, therefore, 
that in Italy few, if any, stones were inscribed in his honor. A few 
have been found in the provinces. Two come from Numidia. 2 One 
of these is especially interesting, because of the false declension of the 
words: IANI PATRO. 3 Of the others, 4 some are dedicated to Janus 
Pater, some have the word Janus unqualified. The poorly cut inscrip- 
tion from Narbonensian Gaul, bearing the words IOVI DIANO, and 
the stone in honor of Janus and Mater Matuta have been mentioned in 
another Chapter. 5 

Spolia Opima 

Besides the cult at the J.anus Geminus, it is barely possible that 
another ceremony, that of the spolia opima connected Janus with war. 
In Paulus-Festus is the statement that the third sort of spolia opima 
was dedicated to Janui Quirino. 6 This is, however, the only passage 
which mentions Janus as a recipient of these trophies. Plutarch gives 
the information that there were three kinds of spolia opima: of these, 
the first was offered to Jupiter, the second to Mars, the third, to Quiri- 
nus. Servius says that Romulus presented the first kind to Jupiter, 
Cossus, the second to Mars; and Marcellus, the third to Quirinus. But 
this Quirinus, he identifies with Mars. 8 It is to be seen from this, 
that there is little foundation for assuming that Janus had a share in 
the spolia. In fact all the evidence about the spolia opima is so con- 
tradictory that no conclusion about it can be reached until more infor- 
mation is brought to light. 

1 Wissowa Relig. u. Kult. p. 106. 

*CIL. VIII, 2608; 4576. 

3 CIL. VIII, 2608. 

*CIL. Ill, 2881; 2969; 3030; 3158; 5092 a; VIII, S. 15577; 16417; 12, 1065. 

6 /. pp. 68-69. 

«Fest. 189. 

7 Plut. Marcell. 8. 

8 Serv. Aen. 6, 859. 



JANUS IN ROMAN LIFE AND CULT 71 

Circenses of January Seventh 
An additional honor was paid to Janus by the emperors in naming 
the games held in the circus on January 7 for him. The Calendar of 
Philocalus contains the only reference to these games. 9 It has been 
seen that the revival of religion under Augustus caused Janus, as well 
as some of the other old deities, to regain some of his former importance 
in state ritual. 10 The fact that his name led the list of gods, and that 
the frequent intervals of peace made it possible to close the gates of his 
arch perhaps contributed to make him more prominent in the thought 
of the people than he had been for several generations. It was natural 
therefore, that when the emperors established new games to take place 
on January 7, they should have named them for Janus. Mommsen 
thinks that the games were thus named because they were the first of 
the year, and were consequently dedicated to the god of beginnings. 11 
However, as in other instances, nothing is said in the Calendar about 
Janus in this capacity. It seems more probable, on the contrary, that 
the games were dedicated to Janus, because they came in his month. 

9 CIL. I, p. 334; pp. 382-383. 

10 /. pp. 27-28. 

11 Mommsen' s note in CIL. I, pp. 382-383. 



CONCLUSION 

In conclusion the development of Janus may be summarized briefly 
as follows: Janus originated as a simple numen of the doorway. He 
developed into a god of generation, of war, and of commerce. He was 
not a god of beginnings; and had no place in the ceremonies of the Ka- 
lends or of New Year's Day. He had neither festival nor priest. Be- 
fore the dawn of literature, at Rome, other deities had usurped most 
of the powers he had possessed. He was obscured by the showiness of 
the Greek and other foreign gods, more than all else by the worship 
of Jupiter, while the simplicity of his worship prevented it from being 
incorporated in the more elaborate state ceremonies. In spite of this, 
however, he held a place in religion to the end of Paganism, because he 
had, in the formative period of the ritual, gained the foremost position 
in all prayers and formulas, a position from which he could not be dis- 
lodged. 

He retained one cult of his own. No war could be begun properly 
until the gates of his arch were thrown open. Under the emperors he 
enjoyed a slight revival. This resuscitation, however, was little more 
than literary: the only result in worship was that one of the celebrations 
in the circus was named for him. So little impression did this honor 
make, however, that no reference is made to it, outside the calendar 
of events. 

Finally, because of his unique position in all rituals and because of 
the material prominence of his arch in the Forum, and partly, perhaps, 
on account of the mystery surrounding his origin and real character, 
he appealed strongly to the imagination of the poets and writers of 
classical and succeeding times. Through their writings he gained the 
position of god of beginnings, of the sky, and even of creator of the 
world. These concepts have had most influence on the opinions of 
modern scholars, but they do not belong to the true character of the 
god, Janus. 



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